Moonlight Hunt
by LizInABlizzard
Summary: RWBY AU. The city of Vale is overrun by crime. Combat schools have not existed for years, the police are corrupt, and hunters and huntresses have long left the region in despair. Team RWBY are working as vigilantes among the few un-corrupt police officers left in Vale. When they run into a mysterious cloaked figure, their fight takes on a whole new dimension.
1. Chapter 1: On The Run

**Author's Note**

It's been about 5 years since I last wrote fanfiction, although I never published any of it. I recently got really into RWBY and decided to try my hand at writing again. I wrote a few bits of some fics and I thought they turned out pretty okay, and I really like writing about these characters. So I decided to publish for the first time what will hopefully be the first of many RWBY fics. I hope you like it!

* * *

Chapter 1

On the Run

 **Blake POV**

The night was young, and so were we.

I was eternally grateful that Ruby and Weiss gave us these occasional nights off so Yang and I could go out together. Our lives were so messy; it was hard to keep track of making time for simple things, like dates.

Yang and I walked together, hand in hand, down the street as dusk began to set. I watched the blonde in the light that cracked through the buildings. Her hair bounced as she walked, but her eyes scanned the area around us, always weary of the constant threat of crime. Her face was soft, but her expression hard, dominant, and protecting, as she always was on the streets. I smiled softly and looked forward, scanning the streets for signs of danger. I was so lucky to have her. I was so lucky she had found me.

We finally arrived at our destination, a small restaurant that we had stopped burglaries at a number of times. Yang's fingers still wrapped in mine, she finally relaxed her stance as we stood in front of the door. She grabbed the door with her free hand, and released my hand.

"After you," she bowed with a playful smirk, the smirk I loved so much. I couldn't help but feel a smile rush to my face as I entered the simple restaurant.

"Blake Belladonna! Yang Xiao Long! It's so lovely to see you two here tonight! A private table, I assume?" the host said, recognizing us almost immediately. The owners of the shops we had protected made it a point to provide us with services for free, in exchange for the fact that we never charged for our services. We did not have to pay for a single thing within a 10-block radius of our home, but we made it a point to use these things as sparingly as possible.

I nodded at the host, still smiling from Yang's goofy smirk. My beautiful girlfriend stood by my side as the host grabbed two menus, and began to lead us to our table. I reached for her hand, but instead felt a gentle squeeze on my butt. I struggled not to yelp softly, and instead glared at her as I felt for her arm and pulled until her hand was locked with mine. It was hard to maintain the glare for more than a few seconds, as she returned it with a sexy smirk.

God, I was so head over heels for this girl.

The host led us up the stairs, to a private table in the back of the room. It was surrounded by dividers, except for a large window, which overlooked the city streets, which were almost completely empty for the night. As darkness fell, anyone in their right mind stayed indoors. Perhaps they were out of theirs, but they were okay to travel at night, as long as they were in at least pairs. They could defend themselves.

Since night had fallen, the restaurant was fairly empty anyways. The host left them with menus, and a waiter came to take their drink orders. A normal night out for the most abnormal of couples.

I pushed away thoughts of the night outside of that window. I looked directly at Yang, her lilac eyes locked with mine.

"It's so nice to get out with my kitten," Yang smiled warmly, placing her hands on the table for me to put mine into.

"I've missed these little dates," I said softly, entangling our fingers together once again.

"Let's forget about that, let's focus on us." Yang rubbed her thumb over mine, and my face filled into an even wider smile.

The waiter returned with our drinks. We hadn't even had to look at the menu. This was our normal date spot, the best restaurant that would serve us for free. We already knew what we wanted, and placed our orders with little hesitation. A plate of grilled salmon for myself, and a steak for Yang. The waiter nodded, and whisked away from our table once more.

As our conversation and hand holding continued, dusk turned into the darkness of night. I could feel my stomach knotting. I glanced out the large window. The dim street lamps barely provided enough light for the average human to see between them. Yang always got more nervous at night. Everyone did. Even though I could see very clearly in the dark, the anxiety of others had conditioned me to be nervous at night.

Yang squeezed my hand, bringing my attention back to her. "We'll worry about that on the walk home. Don't worry about it now," she said with a nod.

I nodded in return, allowing a warm smile to fill my face again after staring into her beautiful, lilac eyes. We continued talking softly, complimenting each other. We spent every waking moment together, and every night wrapped in each other's arms. Date nights were often filled with no real talk substance, simply compliments and taking in the pure beauty of each other.

It was not long before our food arrived, considering we were the only customers in the restaurant at this hour. Normally, the owner/chef would have closed at dusk, but our arrival prompted him and his two sons, the waiter and the host, to keep working just a bit longer, just for us.

It had been so long since we'd gotten one of these nights out, and the food tasted fantastic. We ate swiftly and silently, as we usually did. Although it was date night, if Ruby and Weiss needed us, we had to quickly be out and defending them. Eating had to be swift, or there was a chance it would not get done.

I finished before Yang, which was normal for this restaurant, as my serving was smaller than hers. I was watching her as she ate, absorbing in the way her hair bounced off her shoulders, and the way…

Something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Movement, on a building only a street away from the massive window.

"Yang," I said suddenly, turning to the large window, and squinting, attempting to make out the movement.

Yang looked up from her food, and saw my eyes trained on the rooftops. It was too dark for her to see. "What's there?"

My eyes focused. There was a figure, pacing the building, crouching at various points on the rooftop. The figure was wearing a deep brown cloak, making it hard to distinguish any other features. People don't just pace rooftops in Vale without an intent. Since it was Vale, it was highly likely that these intentions were not good ones.

"Someone's on that rooftop. Pacing. Cloak. Can't see anything else. Suspicious as hell, I'll tell you that." I looked back over at her. She was already up, readying her Ember Cecilia. I stood up, removing my Gambol Shroud, ready to head into the night.

We hurried out of the small private area, almost running into the waiter.

"We're very sorry, an emergency came up. Thank you for the meal, it was very good," I said quickly, walking backwards as I continued to follow Yang.

"No problem! Come back anytime, you two!" he called after us with a bow.

I turned back around as we prepared to head down the stairs and out into the night. I grabbed Yang's hand, leading her in the darkness. I quickly turned us into an alley, and we dashed through the night.

* * *

 **Yang POV**

I fumbled with my scroll in my free hand while Blake led me with the other. I could generally see, but Blake preferred to lead the way in the dark, ensuring that we would not be victims to a jumping or surprise attack from some lowly street gang, or worse, members of the White Fang, the local mafia.

I quickly sent an emergency message to Ruby and Weiss, a simple message, of just coordinates. I slammed my scroll back into my pocket, keeping up with Blake's fast lead. Blake suddenly stopped, and we crouched at the end of the alley, looking up at the building.

The night was dark, and I could see very little. I trained my eyes, and the figure walked in front of the large moon hovering just above the building. Now I could see what Blake had been talking about. A figure, in a cloak, was silhouetted up against the glow of the moon. I let out a small gasp as the figure continued to pace. As the figure turned, they stopped, dead in their tracks.

"Gotta be Faunus. They've spotted us," Blake whispered to me. I squeezed her hand tightly in response, attempting to focus my eyes on the shadow instead of the moon.

I heard footsteps running towards us on the street in front of us. I peered around the corner, carefully, to see my younger sister, Ruby Rose, and her crime fighting partner, Weiss Schnee, approaching us. Blake's eyes were still locked on the cloaked figure, who still had not moved.

I pointed up to the building. The two girls slowed their run as they turned to look, eventually meeting us.

Blake's eyes still had not left the figure. "Yang and I will take the front end of the building. You two get around to the back, and we'll begin our climb up there in one minute. Go!" she said immediately. Ruby and Weiss nodded, quickly running off across the street.

Then the figure moved. Like a blur in the moonlight, the cloaked figure ran across the rooftop and leaped onto the one next to it.

"Go! Get to the top!" Blake yelled suddenly, running forward.

Weiss stood in the middle of the empty street, aiming glyphs up the side up the building with her Myrtenaster. Ruby, gearing up to run as fast as she could, bolted up the side of the building in a blur of red and rose petals. Blake had already sprang into action, using her Gambol Shroud to swing off of lampposts and flagpoles on the sides of the buildings, climbing and scaling the width of many buildings, keeping up with the pace of the cloaked figure.

I looked at Weiss and nodded. I ran to her and she hopped onto my back. Using a combination of her glyphs and the shots from my Ember Cecilia, we leaped upwards from glyph to glyph to the tops of the buildings. We landed with a powerful _thud_ , and Weiss jumped down from my back. Sprinting, we quickly caught up with our other teammates as we leaped from rooftop to rooftop in pursuit of the cloaked figure.

"Can we launch Ruby to the other side? We might be able to stop them if we have someone around front," Blake asked as we ran.

"Absolutely," Ruby and Weiss exclaimed in unison.

Blake and I split apart, allowing the other two to come through the middle. Ruby remained running in front, and Weiss behind her, but with a bit of room. Blake tossed me her Gambol Shroud, which I easily caught. The four of us came to a grinding halt at the edge of a building. The cloaked figure only had a two-building lead on us.

Snapping into action, Weiss used a glyph to pull back the strap of Gambol Shroud. Ruby hopped onto the glyph, her Crescent Rose extended, and ready to go. With the simple and well-practiced launch, Ruby went soaring into the air, several buildings ahead of the figure.

I tossed Gambol Shroud back to Blake, and we immediately began running again in just over a second after Ruby had been launched. Leaping and climbing up small building height differences, we saw that the cloaked figure had come to a stop when Ruby appeared about two buildings in front of them. They turned around, to see us quickly in toe, and turned back around to see Ruby running from the front. The figure looked back and forth a few more times, before running towards the edge of the building as we were each only one building away, preparing to leap off.

Ruby saw what was about to happen, and quickly charged forward at full speed, in a blur of red and rose petals. The cloaked figure leaped into the air, off of the edge of the building, but was immediately shoved back onto the rooftop by the blur of red coming directly at them.

The figure hit the rooftop with a loud _thud_ as the three of us leaped onto the same building as the two. Ruby was holding down the still cloaked figure, which was a shocking feat for her in such a close combat situation.

I quickly kneeled down, changing places with my little sister, knowing I was the strongest of the four of us. I was still expecting a fight. I was still expecting resistance.

I now understood why Ruby was able to hold the figure down. There was no resistance. There was no fight. I quickly pulled back the hood on the cloaked figure, who's outline was enhanced by the heavy moonlight.

There lay what appeared to be a young boy. Short, cropped, greasey, brown hair topped his head, which looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks, with small, brown, floppy animal ears sitting atop his head. His eyes were closed, knocked out. His skin was pale and chalky. He had little fat in his face, and appeared to be far too skinny for his own good.

I quickly untied the front of the cloak to check for signs of breathing, weapons, and the mark of the White Fang. The wolf Faunus, as I quickly learned, was not a boy, based on the small breasts that were tucked away in a tank top beneath an open flannel shirt. Her chest moved up and down, slowly, showing the signs of breathing. I listened for a heartbeat, and found a faint, yet steady one. I looked for a weapon, and found what appeared to be a small, blunt, hand axe of some sort, attached to a belt around her waist. I gently pushed back the flannel around her neck, and saw no mark of the White Fang.

After investigating these key points, I carefully looked over her body. She looked as if she had not had a full meal in weeks. She was knocked out cold, either by the force of landing back on the rooftop, or perhaps fainting from exhaustion and dehydration. I noticed a large fluffy tail coiling around the back of her body. The tail was greasy, and looked as if it had been pressed down and condensed. Her health was in grave danger.

I looked up at the others.

"Call Doctor Ozpin. She needs help, immediately."


	2. Chapter 2: Awoken

Chapter 2

Awoken

 **Ruby POV**

Yang carried the cloaked girl back to our safe house, only a few blocks away. Blake had a hard time leading the way, being our careful eyes in the dark. Yang was determined to get the girl to our home as soon as physically possible.

When we arrived at the safe house, Doctor Ozpin was already there. Weiss had called him from the rooftop, and he came as quickly as he could with his travel bag.

Doctor Ozpin was once a very powerful man. Before the fall of Vale, he was a doctor in a leading hospital and research facility. When Vale fell to the crime wave, the rest of Remnant shut the borders of Vale down, preventing the crime from spreading. For the citizens who lived in Vale, it became extremely hard to not to fall to crime themselves. People became extremely poor, and were no longer able to afford things like hospitals. Police became corrupt, and small groups of citizens banded together to get through this new lifestyle.

Dr. Ozpin was the neighborhood traveling doctor. He often charged very small fees, if he even charged at all. He rarely charged us, but this was going to cost a lot. The girl was barely alive.

Blake opened the door swiftly, and I rushed through, clearing out a bunch of stuff from the holding room we used to hold criminals. Weiss quickly released the cloak from around the girl, as Yang began to lay her down gently on the bed in the holding room. Yang pulled the small hand-axe from her belt, and Dr. Ozpin shooed us from the room, as he got to work.

We all stood outside in the hallway, watching from the large one-way window we had installed in the room a few years ago.

"Do you think she's with the White Fang?" Weiss asked.

Yang shook her head. "I saw no mark on her."

"The White Fang doesn't allow its members to go hungry like that. Especially not now, with them in control," Blake watched Dr. Ozpin and the girl closely through the window.

"I've never seen a wolf Faunus before. She can't be from around here, right?" I asked, looking towards Blake, our local Faunus expert.

"Most wolf Faunus live in Mistral. I don't really know how she ended up here." Blake squinted at the girl through the glass.

"We'll just have to wait until she wakes up for some real answers," Weiss said with a nod.

I felt a wave of guilt rush through me. I'd slammed her into the ground. Her body was so weak and fragile. What if I'd killed her? I shook it off. She would be fine. Besides, she was running from us. She had to be hiding something.

Yang held out the small hand-axe in front of her. "I bet we could get some clues from this."

I took it immediately, being the local weapons expert. It was far heavier in my hand than I had expected. Upon closer inspection, the hand-axe was less of an axe, and more of a heavy metal stick attached to a heavy, thick, metal box. There was nothing sharp about the box, which I originally assumed to be the axe blade from far away. I held it up to my ear, and tapped the box. It was not completely solid, but it held something inside. I glanced over the stick, which was also thick and held things inside.

"This appears to be the smaller form of a larger weapon. I'm not sure how to activate it, but there's definitely more inside of this. It's a bit dangerous to try activating a weapon that the true extent is unknown. My best guess is that it's some form of axe, based on the shape of this. But then again, my weapon in the smaller form is like a small box, and it's really a scythe, and also a gun, but mostly a scythe. I don't know what it is, and I don't think I should mess with it," I reported to my teammates after studying the weapon.

"It's definitely an advanced weapon at least, right?" Weiss asked me.

I nodded.

"Let's go over what we do know." Blake turned and faced the three of us, counting things off on her fingers as she spoke.

"One, a wolf Faunus, likely from Mistral. Two, some background in combat and some form of advanced weapon, possibly an axe. Three, she was either looking for something, waiting for something, or watching something based on her pacing on the top of that building. Four, when she noticed I saw her, she ran. Five, she's not a member of the White Fang, but she ran when she noticed a Faunus. Maybe running from the White Fang, but that's uncertain. Six, she's definitely not from Vale."

I turned towards the window and looked at the girl carefully again. The axe seemed to get heavier in my hands.

"She almost threw herself off the building." I spoke softly as I stared at the girl.

"What?" Weiss asked, thrown off guard by my statement.

"She almost threw herself off the building. She probably would have died. She would rather be dead that have been caught. Whatever she's actually trying to run from, it must be bad." I turned towards my teammates again.

"We don't know about her semblance. If she's got combat training, she's got a semblance. Maybe it would have saved her. We don't fully know what the thoughts behind her actions were." My big sister put a hand on my shoulder as she spoke.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Blake said as she turned towards the window once more.

* * *

 **? POV**

Exhaustion. Pain. Hunger. Hurt.

My eyelids were heavy as they slowly forced themselves open. My brain wasn't fully awake yet, unable to recognize anything other than that the walls were grey.

I blinked once more. My brain woke up. I didn't know where I was. What happened? I struggled to remember anything, anything at all. My eyes were still locked on the grey ceiling, and I struggled to sit up and see anything else. There was an IV in my arm, attached to a… coat rack? Was I in some makeshift hospital? What happened?

"Hey there," an unfamiliar female voice spoke. I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Easy, easy," a heavy hand was on my shoulder. "Let me get you some more pillows so you can sit up."

I turned my head, looking to my right. A tall, muscular, blonde-haired girl stood up from a chair to the right of my bed, heading for the door.

Suddenly, the memory of what happened came rushing back to me. The buildings. Pacing. The Faunus. Running. The blur of red. _Slam_.

I blinked again, and my eyes focused on the wall. There was a long mirror that covered most of the wall. Next to the mirror was a door, the door that the blonde girl went through. The walls were grey.

I let my eyes wander. There was little furniture in the room. A large table was pushed up against the far wall. I was laying on a simple bed, and a coatrack held up my IV. A small table and chair sat next to the bed. On the table was a book, presumably the one the girl was reading before I woke up. Other than that, there was nothing else here. It felt like a prison cell.

Was I in a prison cell? Were these girls working with the cops? The cops in Vale are so corrupt. If I had been caught by the cops, I'd be dead in no time.

I tried to sit up again, but my arms failed and I flopped back down onto my back. I had such little strength. I noticed I had lost not only my cloak, but my flannel and my weapon as well. I couldn't see if I was wearing my same cargo pants underneath the blanket, but my black tank top had been replaced with one slightly larger, and slightly cleaner.

The door creaked open again, and the blonde girl returned with a number of pillows, a bottle of water, and a small bag of sliced apples. At the sight of the water, I realized how dry my throat was, and it began to burn.

The girl put the pillows down on the chair, and the water and the apples on the bedside table. She turned to me and helped me sit up, putting pillows behind my back to support me. She opened the water bottle, and handed it to me, before sitting back down in the chair.

I was barely able to lift the water bottle to my mouth with both hands. The more I chugged, the easier it was, and I ended up drinking the entire bottle in one go. My throat felt better, and I took a deep breath of relief.

The girl then handed me the small baggie of apples. I ate them quickly, starving after weeks of little food. My stomach hurt from the influx of food, but I let it settle slowly.

"So, what's your name?" the blonde girl asked me as I finished, taking the empty bag away.

I looked at her once again. She was really buff, with large muscles on every part of her body. Her blonde hair fell nearly to her waist. She had lilac eyes, and looked to be in her late teens. She was smiling, but I couldn't trust it. If she was a cop, or if she was working with the cops, she was working with the White Fang.

I said nothing.

"Well, my name's Yang. Yang Xiao Long." The girl kept smiling.

I looked away.

"Where are you from?" Yang tried again, but I still offered no response.

"Can you hear?" she asked me. I turned towards her and glared. She took that as a yes. "Can you talk?" Another glare.

"You know, we can help you if you talk to us." She spoke softly. I turned away again, staring at the grey ceiling in silence.

There was a knock on the door.

Yang left the room. I looked towards the mirror. That had to be a one-way window. They had to be cops. There was no other way.

There were a few moments of silence. I glared at the mirror. I saw myself, clear as day. I was very weak, and looked ill. My hair was greasy, and my folded ears drooped more than I had ever seen them. Even though I was glaring, my eyes looked dead inside.

I blinked, and turned back towards the ceiling.

The door opened once more. I did not turn my head, but out of the corner of my eye, I could see it was not Yang.

I turned as the new girl sat down in the chair. She was a Faunus, a cat Faunus, with long black hair, pointed cat ears, and a somber and mysterious look in her amber eyes. She was the one who had seen me.

"You know, what Yang said was right. We really can help you, but you just have to give us a little bit of faith." The Faunus spoke. They sent in the Faunus to connect with the Faunus. I carefully watched her neck as she spoke. I saw no signs of the mark of the White Fang.

"Are…" I attempted to speak, but my voice struggled to vocalize what I wanted it to. I coughed, allowing my throat muscles to expand. "Are you with the White Fang?" I asked, hoarsely.

The Faunus girl chuckled slightly and shook her head. "No, we're not with the White Fang."

"Then who are you?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.

"My name's Blake, Blake Belladonna. What is your name?" I realized I had been trapped by my own question.

I looked away from her and back at the ceiling.

Blake chuckled. I heard her lean back in the chair, shifting her body weight. Something told me she would be here for a while.

I glanced from the corner of my eye. She had picked up the book on the table.

I still didn't trust them. I closed my eyes, allowing myself to drift off into sleep once more.

When my eyes opened again, I quickly recalled the events that had recently happened to me. I looked over. Blake was still sitting there. She had nearly finished the book.

She looked over the top of the book.

"G'morning," she muttered as she looked back down, flipping to the next page.

"What day is it? What time is it?" I asked.

"What's your name?"

I sighed. I turned my head once more. Blake had no reaction.

I lay there for a few more moments, staring at the ceiling. "Brooke."

I turned my head back towards her. Her eyes shot up from the book, and she placed it down.

"Brooke," she repeated with a smile. She did not bother to pester for a last name yet, since it had taken them hours to simply get a first name.

"I've told you my name, now I want to know where I am, and how long I've been out," I demanded.

"You're in my team's safe house. No cops, no White Fang. We work independently. You were out for about a week, although you just took a nice three-hour nap just now." Blake glanced at her scroll. "It's about, uh, 3 in the afternoon."

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked.

"Where are you from?" Blake immediately replied.

My eyes narrowed. Wolves and cats don't exactly naturally get along. She was sly and cunning, seeking information, and I just wanted to know what was going on. I weighed the situation, and realized I was in no position to really be making any demands. I doubted I would live for long without that IV.

"I'm from Mistral."

"We brought you here because you were hurt, nearly dead."

"Why did you chase me?"

"Why were you running?"

I scoffed. I couldn't believe this was happening.

"There's got to be a better way to go about this." I scowled, glaring at Blake.

"Just tell us your side of the story, and then we'll tell you ours."

I did not speak. _Us_. She had said us. Who else was there? Her, Yang, who else?

I turned back to the ceiling. I did not trust her, not one bit. With the hand not attached to the IV, I moved the pillows that were forcing me to sit up to the side of me. I closed my eyes once more, drifting off into some more much needed sleep.

I heard Blake sigh as my eyes closed. She knew I was not going to be easy.

* * *

 **Blake POV**

Brooke was determined not to speak. This basic information, just her first name and the region she was from, seemed to be all that she wanted to give.

The others put me in charge of handling this situation. She seemed to have a bit more trust in me. A Faunus usually trusted another Faunus. She still did not trust me much, but she trusted me with her name. That was enough for a start.

I adapted my team to a schedule revolving around Brooke. There was always one person in the room with her, keeping watch over the sleeping wolf. Our normal heavy patrolling lightened up a bit, as we not only had patrol shifts in the night, but Brooke shifts around the clock. Once a day, we would have to switch out her IV bag, per Dr. Ozpin's instructions.

Brooke adapted to a sort of schedule as well. Each time she would wake up, if enough hours had passed, we would give her water and a small bit of food. She was slowly regaining strength. She would ask what day and time it was. Whoever was on watch would answer, and then ask her why she was in Vale.

Brooke never answered. Sometimes she would lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Sometimes she would sing quietly to herself. We listened in on the lyrics carefully, but they spoke of a child playing in the woods. She mostly slept, still exhausted from her predicament and lack of strength.

Brooke never asked for the names of Ruby or Weiss, although they introduced themselves anyways. She never expressed any more curiosity in us. I began to worry about her intentions. Was she really just some mysterious runaway, or was she really a criminal, trying to regain her strength without getting shipped off to actual cops?

Three days after her first awakening, we each decided to take on a different strategy. I read my books aloud to Brooke, attempting to gain her trust through a common activity. She usually stayed awake for these sessions, listening carefully to the stories. At the end of a chapter, I would ask her a question. She would never answer.

Yang also told her stories, but not from a book. She told stories about her and Ruby in their childhood, before Vale fell so heavily to crime, back in the early days of the wave. Brooke listened to these stories with great attention. She only ever spoke once during these stories, at the end of the very first story Yang told her.

"You care about your sister very much."

The single comment. That was it. Yang agreed, confused, but the girl said nothing else to explain her statement.

Ruby's strategy was to ask simple, innocent questions. Not about her or her past, but about her personality. Her favorite color, favorite food… The questions went on and on. Brooke never spoke or answered, until Ruby tried yes or no questions. Was her favorite color brown? A nod. Did she own a teddy bear as a child? A nod. Did she like fish? A shake of the head. She never answered anything outside of simple, innocent questions. When Ruby tried more pressing questions, there was never a response. But Brooke still never spoke, simply a nod or a shake of her head.

Weiss opted to sing to Brooke when she was awake. Her songs were random and never had much to do with anything. But she would sing softly, seeing that Brooke too liked to sing. Occasionally, Brooke would sing her song about the child in the woods, but usually just after she did, she would go back to sleep.

It had been about a week since Brooke had woken up for the first time. I began to get anxious, worrying that we were getting nowhere with our techniques. If I was awake and not on patrol or on personal Brooke shift, I watched the girl and whichever teammate was with her through the window.

Around dawn on the exact day that marked a week since Brooke had first woken up, Yang was on Brooke duty, and Weiss and Ruby were getting back from their patrol. They found me watching through the window, observing the reactions of the wolf Faunus very carefully to Yang's story.

"Blake," Weiss approached my side and began to look as well. "We're getting concerned. This isn't working. She's regaining her strength and soon she might be able to fight one of us off. We still don't know her intentions. We still don't know what's going on. We can't keep sitting around like this."

I thought for a moment, my eyes not breaking off of Brooke. I had heard clearly what Weiss had said, but my brain was scrambling to come up with another idea.

"Blake? Did you hear me?"

"She responds to sisterhood." I noted.

"What?" Ruby and Weiss asked in unison.

"There's something about sisterhood. Whenever Yang mentions Ruby being her sister, or literally anything to do with their childhood antics, she reacts differently. There are small facial expression changes. She reacts to that. That's the only thing she reacts to. We need to play off that if we want to get anywhere with this." My eyes never left Brooke.

"How do we do that?" Ruby asked.

I knocked on the window. Yang turned and held up a finger. Brooke glared at the window, directly into my eyes.

"I've got a plan." I nodded, as Yang wrapped up her story, and began to exit the room.

* * *

 **Brooke POV**

The door shut behind Yang as I was left alone in the room for the first time since the first day when Yang left to get me pillows, water, and apples.

Over the days I had observed every single thing I could about this room. Every crack in the wall or ceiling, The slight changes in grey in certain spots. The titles of the books that cycled through on the tiny table.

But I hadn't observed the mirror much. I knew it had to be a one-way window, so I didn't really like to look at it, since it bothered me to know that I was being watched on the other side, but I couldn't see them.

A few minutes passed. I closed my eyes once more, but the door opened, and they shot open once again.

Ruby entered into the room with her hands behind her back. I rose an eyebrow as I looked at her. I usually didn't mind when it was Ruby's turn to watch me, but something was off. I didn't trust whatever she had to hide.

Ruby had her usual overly cheery smile. I always found it a bit odd that this was how she greeted a prisoner in her own home, if we really were in her home, but she still seemed to maintain an innocent and childlike persona, although she lived in this city of horrors.

"Hi Brooke!" she exclaimed as she sat down. I remained silent, although I propped up the pillows to allow myself to sit up.

"Brooke, do you recognize this?" Ruby asked me, pulling the item she was hiding from behind her back.

It was my weapon.

I attempted to speak, but had to cough to loosen my throat muscles. "Where did you get that?" I asked her.

"We took it off you the first night you got here," Ruby explained. "What's it do? I love weapons."

The girl was sitting innocently, the small axe in her hands, kicking her legs in the air, as they didn't fully touch the floor from the chair. She was still smiling, with wide eyes, in nothing but pure curiosity.

Something about Ruby seemed different this time. While she was always holding a childlike attitude, something about right now seemed particularly… Innocent.

"It's my axe. It turns into a bigger axe. Double bladed," I explained.

"That's so cool!" Ruby exclaimed with an even bigger smile. "How's it work?"

Ruby's voice was striking me. Memories flushed back. An innocent girl, excited about weapons and fighting. I didn't see Ruby when I looked at Ruby. I saw _her_.

"If you spin the bottom clockwise and then push the box towards the top, it'll expand into the full weapon," I explained to her.

Ruby jumped up from her seat and walked into the middle of the room, a decent bit away from me. She did as I had said, and looked with wide eyes of awe as the axe expanded outwards into its full form. The handle expanded in an upwards direction until it reached full length, about 5 feet long. The box opened up, and shifted over to the middle of the top of the handle. Two large, sharp, menacing blades released from the box in a very metallic and robotic fashion.

"That… is… AMAZING!" the girl exclaimed.

I felt a small smile form across my lips, for the first time in weeks. I quickly shook my head and forced it to go away the moment it formed.

"How do I condense it?" Ruby asked me.

"Spin the bottom of the base counter-clockwise, and it'll go back to the travel form."

Ruby did as I said, and it returned to the small form. She placed it down on the large table on the other side of the room, and came back over to the chair next to my bed.

"You trust me," Ruby commented.

I did not respond, but rose an eyebrow in confusion at her statement.

"You trust me, Brooke. I don't know why, but you just gave me perfect instructions on how to open and close your weapon, which we have taken away from you, and you still trusted me, somehow. You didn't give me instructions that would hurt me. You told me the truth. You trust me."

I furrowed my eyebrows in thought. She wasn't wrong. I had trusted her.

"I don't know why either." I spoke calmly.

I looked back at the small girl, her legs still kicking in the air innocently. I felt a twinge in my heart. I had a hard time seeing the girl in front of me, instead of the one who I wished was there.

I sighed and turned away from the young girl.

"You want to know my story?" I asked, staring at the wall.

"We want to help you, Brooke. We can help you if you let us."

I turned back towards Ruby, but my eyes settled on the mirror behind her. I knew the other three had to be back there.

"You aren't going to turn me into the cops or the White Fang," I looked back at Ruby, my eyes locking with her big silver irises.

"I promise. We just want to help."

"I will tell you. But only when your whole team is present, and only in a room where I know everyone who is watching. I don't like that," I pointed to the mirror.

Ruby nodded and stood up to leave the room. She walked towards the exit, picked the hand axe off the table, and turned to me, watching her carefully.

A small smile formed over the girl's face, just before she spoke with her soft, innocent voice.

"Thank you, Brooke."


	3. Chapter 3: Stories

**Author's Note**

I wrote most of this chapter while watching the 2016 RTExtraLife Stream, and proofread it a couple of times, but I apologize if it isn't the greatest chapter in the world. Things can actually start to pick up after this chapter, which is awesome!

I'd like to write a larger fic about Brooke in the general storyline that the show takes, but I'm forcing myself to finish this one first so I can adapt myself to writing her character and get a bit more practice involving the other characters as well!

I hope you enjoy! :D

* * *

Chapter 3

Stories

 **Yang POV**

Ruby left the room and turned to the three of us, who had been watching through the window. Her cheery smile left her face.

"Did you see the way she forced the smile away? She's so sad," Ruby looked through the window pitifully.

Brooke was watching the window closely. She looked more particularly lively after that exchange. Her ears were a bit more upright, and I could see some life in her eyes.

"You did a great job, Rubes. Seriously. Look at her, you've given her hope," I said, putting my hand on my younger sister's shoulder and beaming down proudly at her.

Blake nodded. "I'm glad this worked. Let's set up the living room."

The four of us searched the living room high and low, clearing it of anything that could be used as a weapon. The girl was still fairly weak. We weren't sure if she'd even be able to walk without help. But we had to be sure, just in case.

Ruby stashed the hand-axe in her own room, and met me back outside of the holding room to help Brooke over there.

Ruby and I entered in, myself following my sister.

"We set up the living room, so you don't have the window there, and we can all talk openly." Ruby bounced in with a smile.

Brooke pushed the covers off of herself, slowly fully sitting up on the side of the bed. She hadn't walked in two weeks, so her muscles were weak and unused. She looked worryingly at her legs, and then back up at Ruby and myself.

"Yang will help you!" Ruby exclaimed, walking over to the coat rack that held her IV.

"How much longer am I going to have that pumping into me?" Brooke asked as I sat down next to her on the bed.

"That's the last one Ozpin gave us. Once it runs out, you should be able to rebuild the rest of your strength through regular meals and rest," I explained, picking up her left arm and slinging it around my shoulders.

"We'll try to walk you like this. If it's too much, I can carry you." I gave a small smile to Brooke as I wrapped my other arm around her waist.

"Let's try this first." Brooke looked a little embarrassed. She was a strong-willed girl. Something told me receiving help was not exactly something she was good at doing easily.

I counted to three, and then we stood up together. She was a bit wobbly, but leaned on me for support. I walked forwards slowly, taking things one step at a time. Brooke relied on me heavily as she regained her ability to walk in a straight line. Ruby followed us fairly closely behind, carrying the coat rack that held Brooke's IV bag. The three of us slowly waddled out of the room, Brooke gaining a bit more strength and confidence with each step.

"Thanks," Brooke muttered beneath her breath, so only I could hear.

I nodded slightly as the three of us made our way down the hallway outside of the holding room. Brooke's eyes were scanning every inch of the house she could see. The rest of our home wasn't as horribly grey as the holding room, but it wasn't the cheeriest place in the world. It was a fairly positive place for Vale, but it still felt… worn-down.

At the end of the hallway was a set of stairs. I felt Brooke shift uncomfortably, still relying on me to hold her up.

"I… don't think… I can do that…" Brooke spoke under her breath, staring up at the tall staircase.

I smiled. "I got you, don't worry."

I quickly picked her up, bridal style, by wrapping my arm tighter around her waist and using my free arm to grab her under her legs. She yelped slightly, surprised by my swift movement. She wasn't very difficult to carry, but I had to make sure I went slow enough for Ruby to keep up with the coat rack behind us.

When we got to the top, I put Brooke back down. Sunlight streamed through a window in the main hall. Brooke blinked a few times, her eyes struggling to adjust to the sunlight. It occurred to me that she hadn't left the holding room in the basement in two weeks. Even if she had communicated with us right away… I doubted she would have been able to come up from the basement, or even left been.

We slowly walked our way out of the hall and into the living room. Weiss and Blake had finished entirely setting up the room, and were waiting patiently for us. I gently set Brooke down in a large, comfortable chair. Ruby made sure that the IV was still okay, and then the two of us found our places on the other couches in the room, myself sitting next to Blake, and Ruby sitting on my other side.

Brooke was looking around the room, observing carefully. Her eyes avoided the sunlit window, squinting each time her eyes flickered by it. Weiss caught onto this, and quickly shut the blinds, before going to sit back down in her own chair as well.

Brooke finally decided the room was acceptable and pulled herself up to sit cross-legged in the large chair. The four of us sat, waiting, watching her carefully. She took a deep breath and looked around the room at us, her eyes settling on the ground.

"My story... Where do I begin my story..."

She shook her head for a moment, and then looked back up at us.

"I came to Vale… because the White Fang stole my sister."

* * *

 **Blake POV**

"…The White Fang stole my sister." Brooke's words echoed through the room.

Brooke was staring right at me. I felt my heart clench up. Did she know? Could she tell?

Brooke looked away from me and continued her story.

"I grew up just outside of Mistral in a pretty big family. I had a lot of siblings. One of my sisters, who I was always really close to, got involved with this other girl a couple years back. I never liked her much, the other girl. But my little sister felt like she had fallen in love. I didn't trust her at first, but I gave her a chance because she made my little sister so happy."

"Silvia, my sister, she's two years younger than myself. A couple months ago, things started falling apart in her relationship. She found out that the other girl was lying about a lot of things. Her family, her age… Alicia, the other girl, is a year older than myself, but claimed she was only a year older than Silvia. There were a ton of red flags. Silvia came to me, unhappy and unsure of what to do, after she found out about a lot of things Alicia was hiding."

"Alicia's family was apparently high up with the White Fang. The Fang's presence in Mistral is so minimal, but everyone has heard of the horror stories of Vale. From what I've seen, it's far worse than anyone in Mistral could imagine…"

Brooke trailed off, staring at the window that looked outside, although the blinds were closed. She shook her head, trying to brush off whatever she was thinking about.

"That was a month ago, when Silvia found out and came to me for advice. I told her to break up with Alicia, get her out of her life. But that didn't work. Silvia told her that, and she came home that night. She said Alicia was upset, but it seemed okay. It wasn't. It so wasn't."

"That night, Silvia was taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night. We woke up the next morning to find her gone."

Brooke swallowed hard, looking towards the ground. This had to be really hard for her. I glanced at Yang and Ruby out of the corner of my eye. That's why she had reacted to Yang's stories about sisterhood. That's why she told Ruby things she wouldn't tell us. Because it reminded her of her sister.

I felt a lump form in my own throat as Brooke began to speak again. This wasn't good for Silvia.

Brooke looked up again, forming the difficult words she struggled to find.

"I was the one who found her room empty. There were scratch marks on the wall near the window, and clumps of Alicia's hair on the ground. She left a note, a single word scribbled onto the wall next to her bed with a marker. 'HELP'."

"No one cared. No one in my family cared. No one believed it. No one believed it was Alicia. No one believed she was lying. No one believed Silvia was in any danger. They think she ran off on her own, leaving the note and the marks behind so she could pretend it wasn't her fault if she got caught. Those were signs of struggle. She didn't want that. She didn't want to be with Alicia anymore. She didn't want to associate herself with the White Fang. But they didn't believe it. They refused to believe it."

Brooke shifted unhappily in her chair.

"I stayed for two weeks. I hoped I could convince them to care. But they didn't. So, I left, on my own. Stowaway on a Fang ship to Vale. They didn't care. No one cares about getting into Vale. It's just hard to get out. Nearly impossible to get out. I didn't care. I just wanted to find my sister. I didn't care if I died trying. But I had to make sure she knew she wasn't alone. That someone cared about her. I couldn't live with myself knowing I didn't try."

"I was in Vale for three weeks before you four found me. I had barely any money. I stole little bits of food from markets to keep alive. I was on the other side of Vale for a while, trying to track Silvia and Alicia down. I had a solid lead, and I knew I wouldn't see much until night. So, I scaled a building, and waited for night to fall. Then I paced, trying to see which building was the correct one."

"Then I saw the two of you on the street, with the other two running towards you. I knew Blake had seen me. I knew there was no way anyone could see me that late at night unless they were Faunus. I was convinced the only Faunus in Vale were associated with the White Fang. I was convinced they were going to get me. So, I ran."

"I'd been so focused on Silvia for weeks that I didn't realize how weak I'd gotten. I was only running on adrenaline, especially during that chase. You all cornered me, between Blake, who I knew was a Faunus by the way she saw me, despite that bow," Brooke's eyes flashed to the bow above my head. My face flushed as my ears twitched beneath them, "and a girl in a red cloak who I couldn't see. I used my cloak to hide my ears and tail. I assumed she was the same. So, I threw myself off the building. I would have rather died there then be brought into the White Fang."

"Then I woke up here, in a cell with a one-way window. I thought I was with the police. I thought I was going to be turned over to the Fang. Alicia knows I'm out here hunting for my sister. Alicia's family is high up in the Fang. I would have been tortured and killed, or forced to carry out attacks with them. You can see why I didn't trust you all. I honestly didn't believe I was actually in a house until we got into this room."

"That's my story."

* * *

 **Brooke POV**

I looked around at the room, looking for reactions.

Ruby and Weiss looked curious, yet pitying me for my story. Blake looked like she had seen a ghost. Yang was watching her carefully, holding her hand for comfort.

Blake looked up at me, locking her eyes with mine.

"What is Alicia's last name?"

I tilted my head and cocked an eyebrow. She knew Alicia?

"Taurus. Alicia Taurus."

Blake looked down, her free hand forming into a fist. Yang squeezed her other hand, trying to calm her down.

"Do you know Alicia?" I asked immediately. Blake said she wasn't with the White Fang. Then why was she reacting this way?

Blake looked up at me slowly and sighed.

"I know of her. Never met her, but I once knew her cousin well. The one high up in the White Fang. Adam Taurus."

I felt a pain in my heart that felt as if an ice-cold hand was closing over it. I looked down for a moment, remembering the first and last time I had heard that name, the night before Silvia disappeared.

"How do you know him?" I asked, looking back up at her. The coldness turned to fire. What was Blake hiding?

Blake took a deep breath. "You must promise to let me finish before you react." She could see my distrust had resurfaced.

I scowled, but nodded.

"I was once a member of the White Fang."

She held up her hand before I could so much as breath, to allow herself to explain.

"I was practically born into it. Back before Vale fell, it was all peaceful protests and civil disobedience. But it didn't work. Eventually the Fang took more drastic measures, and it left a sour taste in my mouth. I knew Adam very well. In fact, he was," Blake swallowed hard, tightening her grip on Yang's hand, "my ex."

"Adam was not a nice man. He was abusive, not just to me, but with his power. He was pushing for worse and worse attacks. One day I'd had enough, and I ran off into the night in Vale. I'm the only person who managed to get out of the White Fang. Because of my escape, they started marking members with the three claw marks on their neck, so it became a mark for life."

Blake looked at the other girls.

"I lived on the streets for a week, stealing food from a bakery and living in an alley. The baker called upon the local vigilantes to catch the minor thief who kept stealing his bread in the night. Yang caught me in the act, and she took me in, just like we did you. I broke, sobbing, in fear I'd be returned to the Fang. I told them my story, and they took me in, letting me join their team. That was two years ago. The rest is history"

Blake looked back to me. "I'm sorry that this has happened to your sister. I want to help you, I really do, but I don't know what we are going to be able to do."

I sighed. "I don't know exactly what I planned to do either."

"What was the lead you were following?" Ruby spoke softly.

My eyes jumped to her. She reminded me so much of Silvia, it hurt a bit.

"I heard rumors in the shadows in another part of Vale. Silvia, like myself, is a wolf Faunus, and Alicia is a fox. Some people were speaking of the fox coming to this district to meet with some petty human criminals in one of the buildings I was keeping tabs on. That was over two weeks ago now. The meeting is over. All I know is that their headquarters used to be by the docks, but I heard they were moving it into the Northern part of the city."

The four girls looked at each other. Blake still seemed to be highly worked up about the situation, avoiding eye contact with any of us.

"How did you three end up here?" I asked the other three, still curious and slightly untrusting about the girls.

Yang spoke first.

"Ruby and I grew up in Patch, a little island just outside of Vale. My mom left when I was a baby. Ruby's mom died when we were 7 and 5. Our dad and uncle tried really hard to raise us, but things were rough. The island got overrun by crime, just like the rest of Vale. We got robbed of almost everything we owned. We sold our home and moved to Vale. Our dad and uncle used to patrol the streets like we do, earning us a positive reputation among the citizens."

"Dad trained us, in Patch and in Vale. We learned how to fight monsters and subdue criminals. We thought we'd live this weird life together, forever. But one day, when I was 13 and Ruby was 11, they left and never came back."

"The neighborhood got overrun by crime again. We were too young to fight them. The neighborhood looked after us, hoping we would return to fight when we were ready. In just a year, things got incredibly out of hand. We decided to patrol at night. The two of us, 14, and 12, took on the blocks surrounding our home. As time passed, we expanded more. Now we have a ten-block radius around our home. But it was slow, it was gradual, and it was dangerous. But we made it work." Yang squeezed her sister's hand gently as she finished her story.

The two sisters looked at Weiss, Blake still staring at the ground, deep in thought. Weiss sighed and glanced to the window.

"I was once very rich, a heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. As Vale was falling, so was the need and demand for dust. I was 15, in Vale with my family visiting friends. My father had some special permission to get in and out of the city for business related things, but the borders to get out were closing permanently."

"I got lost in the city, stranded and left behind. My family never came back for me, and the borders closed, and I couldn't get out. I was terrified and alone. On my first night, I wandered about in the darkness, scared for my life, with nowhere to go. I stumbled into these two, who found me crying and wandering. They let me into their home, and I just became one of the family. Blake came into the picture just a couple months after myself."

I looked at the girls carefully. Four teenage girls, without families, who found each other in this dark world. My distrust was dissipating. They just wanted to get by in life, and help other people get by in the same way.

"You have an advanced weapon. Are you trained in combat?" Weiss asked me, disrupting my train of thought.

I nodded. "I'm technically from just outside of Mistral. You have to fight to survive outside of the kingdoms."

The four girls exchanged looks and nods with each other.

"Brooke, if we help you try and find your sister… Would you join us here?" Ruby asked, her eyes filled with innocence.

I thought about it for a few moments. I looked around at the girls one last time.

"Under one condition. If we find my sister, we do whatever we can to get her out of there." I looked directly at Blake.

Blake thought for a moment and nodded. "We'll do whatever we can, but there could be situations where we can't do much of anything about it."

I smiled softly at the girls that surrounded me.

"We have ourselves a deal."


	4. Chapter 4: Rebuilding

Chapter 4

Rebuilding

 **Brooke POV**

Not long after I agreed to stay with the girls, Yang went to the kitchen to make some actual food, my first real meal in several weeks. Blake went with her, and I noticed the two holding hands again. I had assumed that the squeezes on the couch were for comfort through the difficult stories. Was there something more to the two?

Ruby was very interested to learn more about me and my fighting style.

"So if you've got combat training, do you have a semblance?" the younger girl asked excitedly.

I nodded. "It's a bit hard to explain with words, so I'll have to show you. Not right now, though. I definitely don't have enough energy for that right now."

I looked up at the IV bag, still on the coatrack. It was nearly gone, only about a quarter remaining. I still felt like I was extremely weak, despite doing nothing but sleeping for two weeks. I needed this real food inside of me.

I heard footsteps dancing gently up some stairs in another room. Light footed and delicate. I guessed Blake, as I couldn't imagine Yang as ever walking delicately.

"There's another floor?" I asked, glancing up at the ceiling.

Ruby nodded. "Three floors, including the basement. But that's pretty much just the holding room. Upstairs are the bedrooms and the bathroom, and this floor has the living room and the kitchen. Blake's probably clearing out her old room for you."

"Her old room?" I raised an eyebrow.

Ruby and Weiss exchanged a smug look.

"Yang and Blake share a room; they have for almost the entire time Blake's been here." Weiss chuckled.

I thought about the hand-holding that they had done as they left the room. "Are they… together?"

Ruby laughed a little. "They fell for each other within like, weeks of meeting each other. Practically inseparable. Blake moved herself into Yang's room shortly after. There's still a couple things in the old room, but probably not much."

"Huh. Okay." I nodded.

Ruby let out a small yawn as she looked towards the window. "Man, I'm exhausted. It's so late."

"But it's… morning? I think?" I asked, glancing in between the blinds of the window. My eyes had finally readjusted to sunlight, at least in this smaller amount. The sun was out, that much I knew, and it wasn't late at night.

"We work and live nocturnally. Crime comes out at night, as do we. We usually sleep during the day, or through the morning, at least. The two of us were on patrol last night."

I opened my mouth to ask another question, but my ears twitched at the sounds coming from the kitchen. There was a smashing of pans, as it sounded like several toppled to the ground. This was almost instantly followed by the fluttering of steps down the stairs, and a call from the kitchen.

"I'm good!" Yang yelled.

My sensitive wolf ears heard Blake sigh at the blonde. "Literally, how, Yang. How did you manage that?"

I chuckled slightly, readjusting myself in the chair, grabbing my tail and wrapping it around my waist. I had been wondering how two girls, so different in personality, could be together. But they balanced each other out.

Blake came through the door to the living room, shaking her head. She carried two bowls of pasta in her hands, and handed one to myself. "The sauce is reheated from the other day, but the pasta's fresh."

My stomach let out the largest growl as I looked down at the large bowl of spaghetti. I couldn't give a damn when the sauce was made. I was just so happy to have real food in my hands.

"Thanks," I said quickly, digging into the food.

Ruby and Weiss left for the kitchen to get food for themselves.

"Yang! You dolt!" I heard Weiss shriek from the kitchen, followed by Ruby bursting out into laughter, unable to stop.

I took a breath and looked up from my food as Yang re-entered the room with her own food. I nearly choked on the food in my mouth when I saw her appearance.

Yang had pot donned on top of her head. Around her neck was an apron that read the classic "Kiss The Chef", but Yang had used tomato sauce to write the words "Only The Kitty May" just before the rest of the classic line.

Blake looked up and saw the new addition to Yang's apron. With a shake of her head and a sigh, she shuffled over on the couch to let the goofy blonde take the seat next to her. Yang placed her bowl down on the coffee table, a silly grin on her face, she leaned in to hug her girlfriend.

"Yang! The sauce!" Blake squealed out, unable to escape Yang's grasp.

"You can't be mad at me!" the blonde laughed, the pot tilting on her head. She leaned in and pecked the cat Faunus on the cheek. Blake stopped trying to resist the girl, and just shrugged and smiled at the blonde.

"You aren't wrong."

"There's that smile!" Yang said proudly, and released Blake, an impression of the sauce left on Blake's shirt.

"Yang, that's gross," Weiss hissed as her and Ruby re-entered the room. Ruby let out a small giggle. Weiss glared at the girl, causing Ruby to attempt to contain her laughter, to little avail.

Yang pulled the pot off her head and placed it down on the table. "Would you like a hug too, Weiss?" A goofy and mischievous smile sprawled across the girl's face as she stood up.

Weiss squealed, turning and dashing out of the room. A large, circular, white glyph blocked the door before Yang could get through it.

"Aw, no fair!" Yang pouted.

Ruby was howling with laughter, and even I found myself laughing lightly at the antics of the blonde girl. Blake sighed and shook her head with a smile.

"Come eat. Leave her alone. _Without_ the apron." Blake patted the seat next to her.

Yang glanced around the room for a moment as the glyph disappeared. She walked over to me, untying her apron as she walked. I rose an eyebrow as she approached, but she walked past me, to the coatrack behind me. She hung up the apron, and then bounced happily back over to Blake on the couch.

"Welcome to the team, Brooke. Next time you'll get sauced too," Yang smirked as she sat down on the couch. My face broke out into a soft smile and a chuckle, just before my stomach let out the world's largest growl, and I was distracted by my food once more.

* * *

 **Yang POV**

Life carried on fairly normally.

Having Brooke around the house was a little different, but it was fairly easy to get used to. She spent most of her time rebuilding her strength, through eating, sleeping, and basic workouts to build back up the strength in her muscles.

I tried everything I could to make her more comfortable here. It was pretty clear she was still uncomfortable, but her life was sort of in limbo. She didn't have much of a choice as to whether or not she wanted to stay with us, if she wanted to survive, anyways.

Brooke quickly adapted to the nocturnal lifestyle we held. She would wake up in the mid-afternoon with the rest of us, and spend the hours of light hanging out with us in the living room and socializing with us. She would even occasionally cook us some of her old family recipes for Mistral.

When the four of us would leave to patrol shortly before dusk, Brooke would begin her training. We'd helped her set up a training regime to rebuild strength in her muscles, which she stuck to religiously. It became increasingly clear that the Brooke we had come to know was merely a shell of her former self. She prided herself in her ability to rebuild her body from the ground up, and worked endlessly at it.

If she wasn't working out her muscles and building up her strength, she was practicing her fighting in the basement. Once she was strong enough to wield her axe again, she would spend half her nights building up her strength by swinging around her axe, sharpening the blades, and destroying wooden crates we would bring home to her. We still never saw her fight, she only ever did it when we were all out, but the crates we would come home to were finely shredded into thin boards, each strike precise and deadly.

After we'd get home, we'd have ourselves a family dinner, usually in the living room. We'd tell our tales of whatever we had run into that night, and Brooke would tell us whatever she had done that night as well. We'd all go off to bed after dinner, and the day would repeat.

About a month after Brooke began her training, we decided she was ready to start to patrol with us.

On the one particular afternoon, we woke up to the sounds of our alarm clocks blaring through the room.

 _BEEP. BEEP. BE-_ I rolled over, slamming my hand down onto alarm clock. I felt the blanket pulled upwards as Blake yanked it over her face.

I rolled back over, looking to cuddle for a bit longer before I forced myself, and Blake, out of bed.

"Blake…" I mumbled with a sleepy voice, fumbling to pull the blanket away from her face.

"I don't wanna get up," she groaned.

"Just come cuddle with me before we have to." The blanket shot down faster than I could imagine, arms thrusting forward to lock around the back of my neck.

I smiled softly, leaning in for a gentle kiss on her forehead. "There she is."

Blake nuzzled her head into my neck, her bare ears tickling my nose. The fur made me give out a little sneeze, of which I tried to not get on Blake, but failed.

"Yang, gross…" Blake murmured, still too sleepy to release herself from my grasp.

"Sorry," I said with a small smirk she couldn't see. She was so precious, asleep in my arms.

Blake pulled away a little bit, coming face to face with me. Looking into her deep amber eyes, I felt at peace.

There was a brisk, happy, little knock at our door, interrupting our moment. I knew the pattern of the knock anywhere. It was Ruby.

Blake groaned and rolled over, releasing my neck, and pulling the covers back over her head. She definitely wasn't a morning, well, afternoon person. I sighed and got up, throwing on some slippers and stretching.

I walked over to the door, hair messy, still half asleep, and opened it.

My little sister was standing there in her pajamas, with a smile on her face. "We're having a house meeting in ten minutes down in the living room!" She spoke excitedly yet quietly, as Brooke's door was still closed, meaning she was still fast asleep. We hadn't been able to get our hands on an alarm clock for her yet, so she normally woke up whenever we got her up. Brooke was a really heavy sleeper, and usually only I could wake her up by banging heavily on her door.

"Okay, okay," I muttered, turning around to wake up Blake as Ruby headed to Weiss's room, to make Weiss aware of the meeting as well.

I gently shut the door behind me, walking over to Blake's side of the bed. I sat down next to the girl, who was still curled up in a ball, head under the covers.

"Ruby called a house meeting in 10 minutes. We gotta get up and get ready." I said as I gently pulled back the covers from the top of her head.

"I heard," Blake grumbled, pouting as I revealed her face. I looked down at her and smiled, which forced her to blush and smile back. She sat up, leaning in to give me a kiss, before pulling the covers off of herself entirely.

I stood up from the bed, getting myself ready for the day. Blake did the same, a little slower, a little sleepier, and definitely cuter. Her hands fumbled to properly tie her ribbon over her ears, so I stopped brushing my hair to help her.

"There, my sleepy kitten. Cute as always." I kissed the top of her head once I finished tying the bow in place, just how she liked it.

I glanced over at the clock. It had been 9 minutes since Ruby had come to the door. Sighing, I picked up my brush, preparing to brush my hair during the meeting.

"I need some tea before this meeting, or I will not make it through," Blake grumbled as she followed me through the narrow halls and down the stairs to the main hallway.

To Blake's excitement, Weiss had already set out morning drinks for us on the coffee table, coffee for her and myself, tea for Blake, and hot chocolate for Ruby. Blake immediately picked up her tea, her face instantly getting a little less sleepy and miserable looking.

I wrapped my free hand around my coffee and sat down, cross-legged on the couch. "So, Rubes, what's up?"

My sister crashed onto one of the large chairs, hot chocolate in hand. "I think Brooke's ready."

"Go on," Blake said, sipping away at her tea.

"This morning, Weiss and I came back early. We watched her working out through one of the windows. She never saw us, but we saw her. She's strong, able to bench press her weapon, and let me tell you that thing is hea- _vy_ , and we think she's ready to join us on patrols," Ruby said as Weiss nodded in agreement.

"You haven't talked to her about this yet?" Blake asked.

Ruby shook her head. "We wanted to check with the two of you first. Figured we'd do it this afternoon while she was still asleep."

"If she's ready and willing, I'm all in," I declared as I took another sip of my coffee, running my brush through my hair.

"She needs some new clothes first," Blake said. The three of us turned and looked at her in a moment of confusion at her statement.

"Her clothes are old and tattered. She's been wearing our old clothes since she's gotten here. We've gotta hide her ears and tail, but that cloak is way too suspicious. People around here know Ruby, Little Red, as some call her, but some tall weird figure walking around in a dark brown cloak at night? We'll get calls about our own partner. We've gotta take her clothes shopping first." Blake finished with another sip of her tea.

"Blake's right," I sighed, "but where are we going to find a shop around here that will tailor to well, a tail? None of the shops left cater to Faunus."

"How are we going to hide her ears and tail? Her ears aren't like Blake's, a bow would look out of place, and it doesn't mash with her personality. And her tail is huge and bushy. She's going to need something big to cover that up," Weiss spoke, finally commenting on the situation.

"We'll find her a hat here that will cover it well enough until we can get her one specifically for her. She can wear her cloak out, hood down, while we find her a place to go shopping. We could get her a trench coat or something." Blake set her tea down on the table.

I thought for a few moments, and then came up with an idea. "What about that one shop, four blocks down? The owner's brother was married to a Faunus before the two fled Vale. He's always seemed to know with Blake, but he's never said a bad word about it. Always complimenting the bow."

"It's a stretch," Weiss scowled.

"It's the only lead we've got," Blake said, smiling at me.

Blake's eyes shot upwards, towards the upstairs. "She's awake," Blake uttered. The other two looked panicked, scared that Brooke would overreact to such secrecy.

"I'll handle it," I said, standing up as I placed my coffee cup down the table.

I walked over to the bottom of the stairs and yelled up as I walked up. "Hey Brooke! Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?"

There was a beat of silence, followed by the girl's voice yelling back, "Hot chocolate!" I repeated the word down the stairs, continuing my way up.

I walked into my room and put my hairbrush down. Fluffing up my hair a bit in the mirror, I walked back out, as Brooke exited the bathroom.

"Weiss made us all drinks before we woke up as a surprise. Come down as soon as you're ready, we want to have a house meeting," I said to her as I walked past, heading for the steps again.

"House meeting?" Brooke rose an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we have them from time to time, when we need to talk about something in a bit more of a formal matter," I walked backwards as I talked, nearly falling down the stairs.

"Yang! Be careful!" Brooke laughed at me as I caught myself on the railing, spinning around on my heel to get down the stairs.

I came down the stairs to see Weiss placing another cup of hot chocolate on the table and Blake glaring at me, concerned. "What did you do?" she growled.

"Almost fell down the stairs. Just almost, though! I'm fine, see!" I flexed my arms, smiling widely.

Ruby laughed a little, Weiss shook her head with a sigh, and Blake's glare slowly turned to a smile.

"Stop nearly hurting yourself." Blake threw a small pillow that sat on the couch at me.

With fast reflexes, I caught it before it could hit me. I smirked and walked back over to the couch, and plopped down back where I had been before. Blake huffed, sipping away at her tea. I curled my legs up so I could lean against her on the couch, and her expression softened a bit.

Heavier footsteps came down the stairs. Brooke entered the room, wearing the usual clothes, an old pair of my sweatpants with a hole cut out the back for her large, bushy tail, and one of Blake's old shirts. Blake was right. She _really_ did need new clothes. Brooke yawned, stretching as she hit at the bottom of the stairs.

"G'morning," Brooke said as she stumbled towards the hot chocolate waiting for her on the table. She took a seat in one of the large chairs and took a long sip.

"So, house meeting?" Brooke said as she wrapped her fingers around the mug.

"Well, Brooke, we've got a question for you." Ruby sat up in her chair, her legs dangling over the edge of her seat. "How would you feel about starting to join us on patrols?"

Brooke looked a little bit confused, but smiled. "I'd love to. I think I'm ready."

"We've gotta get you some new clothes first," I piped in.

Brooke rose an eyebrow.

"Your old clothes were pretty torn and tattered. You've been wearing our old clothes, which we really don't mind, but if you're joining us out on patrol… People can't know you're a Faunus." Blake sighed, setting down her tea mug.

Brooke maintained a puzzled look for a few moments, but nodded in realization. "How are we going to go about that?"

"We know of a place where the owner once had a Faunus in his family by marriage, before the takeover of the White Fang. The guy's always been friendly about it, and we think he'd be okay to make you some custom clothes," I explained to Brooke, as she sipped her hot chocolate.

A look of genuine fear struck Brooke's eyes, the same fear that she woke up with all those weeks ago. "What if he isn't okay? What if he turns me in?"

"He's not going to," Blake said firmly, fire in her eyes. "If he tried to turn you in, he would never receive protection from us again. He'd be blacklisted in the neighborhood, and he'd go out of business, either to crime or lack of sales. Anyone who supported him would be on our hit list. If he's smart, it won't have to come to that."

I placed a hand on Blake's. Her hand had balled into a fist. She was very serious.

Brooke swallowed and nodded. She still looked scared, but Blake's sincere answer calmed her down a little.

"You're one of us now, Brooke. We protect our own." Ruby smiled warmly at Brooke, pushing some more of the fear in Brooke's eyes away.

"So when do we leave?" Brooke asked, placing her hot chocolate on the table.

"As soon as we find a temporary hat to cover your ears with." Blake stood up from her seat.

"I've got some old caps in my room. Dad's old things." I stood up with her.

"Finish your hot chocolate, we'll find some stuff for you to wear to the store." Ruby jumped up, heading for the stairs.

"There's one problem," Brooke said, looking down at her drink. We stopped and turned quickly towards her.

"What's that?" I rose an eyebrow.

"I don't have any money…" Brooke didn't look up from her hot chocolate.

"Neither do we," Blake said, as Brooke's head jerked up in confusion.

"We don't pay for anything around here. We protect the shops and the people, the people give us resources when we need things. We don't use them often, so when we do, they know it's necessary," I explained to Brooke.

Brooke's brow furrowed for a moment, thinking. "But I haven't helped anyone yet."

"You're one of us now, Brooke. You're one of us, and we aren't going to leave you behind. Just because you haven't helped anyone yet doesn't mean you won't, and if a shopkeeper sees you're one of us, they're going to treat you like one of us," Blake reassured her.

There was something about Blake's voice that was overly serious. Her stance was tall and her shoulders were broad. She spoke as if she was giving a speech. I thought back to her youth, before the fall of Vale, when she was a White Fang member, protesting for equality. That part of her had never really left, the part of her that wanted to look out for her fellow Faunus and see that they were treated fairly. She was proud and defiant, insisting that nothing bad would happen to Brooke with her around. I used to wonder how someone like her could have ever gotten involved with an organization like the White Fang, but things weren't always the way they are now. It was times like these, when Blake got passionate, in which I understood how she got involved in the first place.

Brooke smiled. "Thank you," she spoke softly.

The four of us smiled back. "Of course," I nodded as I turned to head up the stairs and see what I could find.


	5. Chapter 5: Shopping and Suspicions

Chapter 5

Shopping and Suspicions

 **Brooke POV**

It did not take long for Yang to find me one of her dad's old baseball caps. It was uncomfortable, but it did not necessarily crush my ears, which would have to do until we got to the store. I strapped my classic belt across my chest, so I was able to carry my axe in its normal loop. I clasped my trusty cloak together, and looked at myself in the mirror in my room.

The hat definitely felt off, but I looked fairly the same as I normally did. It had been hard for me to mentally adjust to the idea that this was my life now, for as long as I lived, most likely. I couldn't believe that my life had come down to this.

I left my room and headed down the stairs to find the girls waiting for me. They looked the same as always, simply gearing up for the patrol for the night. Yang had a small addition, a small backpack strewn over her shoulders.

I rose an eyebrow at Yang. "What's the backpack for?"

"For your old clothes once we get you new ones," Yang explained.

"Are we all ready?" Ruby asked.

I nodded, as did the others.

"Let's go!" the young girl declared, opening the front door and walking out of the house.

It had been my first time outdoors since the night on the rooftops. Dusk would probably occur within the next half hour, but the streets were decently populated. The people of Vale were completing their last tasks before nightfall, and several waved at us as we walked down the street.

Ruby greeted each person with a smile and "Have a safe night!" The people of Vale were very friendly towards the girl, happy to see the girls out for the night.

A few people did a double take at my presence, but I simply smiled slightly with a little bow, and they did the same without questioning things.

The city was much quieter in this residential area. The safe house was crammed in among many other brick townhouses, all old and worn down. The residential area seemed much less crowded than the commercial blocks where the girls had found me. The streets weren't as scary during daylight, but I had often avoided the daylight when I was on my own, as I didn't want to be seen. My large cloak felt out of place in the friendly residential block, but I kept it carefully closed to mask my long tail.

The residential area that we lived in was about 3 blocks wide by 3 blocks long, and we lived in the exact middle block. It only took us a block and a half to get out of the rows of worn down homes, and into the tall commercial buildings I had grown to be familiar with all those weeks ago.

I felt better surrounded by the taller buildings. It reminded me of home, in a forest, surrounded by tall trees. There was a part of me that wished I had never left, but most of me agreed that I had done the right thing. The familiarity reminded me of my true reason for being here, not to patrol with the girls, but to find my sister.

As we continued to walk, the sun began to set further on the city. People walked faster, some even running, to make it back to their homes in time. I kept my hand firmly planted on my axe beneath my cloak, paranoid that danger would be down every alley.

I began to wonder if I would ever find my sister. I doubted the girls would be too enthusiastic about the idea, considering it would involve going outside of their blocks of safety. I knew Blake never wanted to come near the White Fang again, in concern about her life and her safety from Adam Taurus.

While I desperately wanted to go find my sister, I knew that I could not abandon my loyalty to these girls. They had taken me in off the streets, saved my life, trusted me, and offered a place in their home and their family. I felt my stomach knotting at the dilemma I would soon face.

Two blocks into the commercial district, we stopped in front of a tall building. On the ground floor was a store with large windows and a large sign that read, "Winchester & Son Clothing Co." The door had a small, hand-painted sign, showing the hours that stated that the shop closed every day at dusk.

"Why don't they run home before dusk like everyone else?" I asked, noting that darkness had almost completely fell on the city of Vale.

"Most businesses left are family owned and operated. They live above their stores, usually, as leaving the building alone every night would encourage robberies in the night," Yang explained.

I nodded, releasing my hand from my axe as we walked in. I reached out of my cloak and pulled my hat down lower, scared slightly of what was to come.

* * *

 **Blake POV**

"Sorry, we're cl- oh! Hello girls!"

The tall and strong man was counting his lien behind the cash register near the entrance to the store. The man was Mr. Winchester, the owner of the store. His face lit up when he saw us enter into the store. We usually used his store when we needed new clothes, and he was always so eager to help.

"Hi Mr. Winchester!" Ruby greeted with a smile. The young girl had somehow become a leader for us. Despite her innocent personality, she knew how to charm her way through most situations with most people, us included. She was strong and serious when she needed to be, but very capable of manipulating someone with her cuteness when necessary.

"What can I do for you four today?" Mr. Winchester asked, not noticing Brooke behind us.

"Five, actually," I said, stepping to the side, revealing a shyly smiling Brooke.

"Oh, hello! You girls got a new member?"

We all nodded in response to Mr. Winchester's question.

"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Mr. Winchester, owner of Winchester & Son Clothing Co. That boy over there is my son, Cardin," Mr. Winchester waved towards the back of the store, where his son was hanging up clothes, "and you are?"

Brooke stepped forward, reaching out her hand to shake his. "Brooke, Brooke Timber."

It suddenly occurred to me that we had never heard Brooke's last name. It seemed to just be something we forgot about through our questioning process, since she'd been so dead bent on not telling us much at the beginning.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Ms. Timber. How can I help you five today?" Mr. Winchester shook her hand.

"You see, we need some clothes for our friend Brooke here," Yang began to explain, as she nodded to Weiss who walked over to the panel near the door that controlled the blinds on the windows.

"The only problem is, we need something a bit more custom," Yang nodded to Brooke as Weiss shut the blinds.

Mr. Winchester rose an eyebrow, and Cardin quickly walked towards the front of the store, on alert. Although we were trusted amongst the community, shutting blinds to hide something was generally not regarded as a sign of good things to come.

Brooke sighed and pulled off her hat with one hand and unclasped her cloak with the other. Cardin gasped, but Mr. Winchester remained silent, as Brooke revealed her ears and large, bushy, slowly wagging tail, still partially hidden behind her legs.

Mr. Winchester nodded firmly. "Not a problem." He fumbled around behind the counter, and pulled out a tape measure.

Cardin said nothing, but his brow furrowed. He knew better than to upset his father, but it was fairly clear he was not happy about the situation. I shot a few daggers at him with my eyes, to which he saw, but avoided my gaze.

Brooke handed me her cloak and hat, which I stuffed into the bag Yang had on her back. The tailor was working his way around her, measuring mostly her tail, but other parts of her as well.

"We just need some custom pants, for the tail. We can find some shirts and hats from your general stock. Oh, and a trench coat," I said as Mr. Winchester worked his way around with the tape measure.

"Trench coat?" Brooke rose an eyebrow.

"Least suspicious item of clothing that'll hide your tail." I shrugged.

"I never thought I'd live in a world where a trench coat is considered to be not suspicious." Brooke sighed and shook her head slightly.

The tailor finished his measurements, and asked Brooke a few basic questions about her style. Then he whisked away to the back of the store, where he was immediately going to begin working on the pants.

"Take whatever you like, Ms. Timber!" Mr. Winchester yelled as he ran away.

Brooke's tail nervously swished back and forth. She glanced over her shoulder anxiously every few moments, making sure that the blinds were still down and the door was still closed.

I placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're fine, Brooke. Let's find you some clothes."

Brooke forced a small smile, but it was clear to me that she was still very nervous.

We started with hats. Brooke found that the baggy beanies worked the best, after trying on a number of different types and styles of hats. They didn't push down her ears with much force, but still allowed her to hide them successfully. Not wanting to infringe too hardly on the tailor's business, she insisted on only taking two of each type of clothing item. She specifically chose two dark brown beanies, which was not too shocking, considering her old primarily brown color scheme.

Brooke's taste in shirts was fairly similar to what she had worn on the night we met her. She selected a few cheap, simple, black tank tops, and some brown and dark blue flannel. She was very quick about this, insisting no difference from her old clothes other than the fact that they were physically new. Lastly, we picked out a dark brown trench coat, as close to the color of her tail that we could find, and a pair of work boots. All we had left to wait for was the pants.

Brooke's anxieties did not cease, even as we were hidden among the aisles of the shop. Her ears twitched at the slightest noise, and her tail was nervously tucked between her legs, occasionally twitching as well.

Not long after we picked out the last of her clothing, she and I heard something at the exact same time. It was harder for me to hear, due to the bow restricting my cat ears. But I still heard it, even slightly muffled.

Cardin was in the back with his father, arguing over the work he was doing for Brooke.

I signaled for the other three to wait where they were, and Brooke and I crept around to an aisle near the back of the store, where the tailor was still working diligently on Brooke's pants.

"…I don't think this is a good idea." Cardin's voice was hushed, but still decently clear form our close position.

"Cardin. We help our friends. It's how we survive here." Mr. Winchester did not skip a beat on his sewing machine.

"But we don't know that _thing_. She could be Fang, for all we know!" Cardin hissed in response.

The machine stopped, and there was a soft _thump_. "Cardin Winchester. We do not speak about Faunus in that way. They're people, just like you and me. Besides, I saw her neck. No Fang mark. No worries." The machine continued.

"We still don't know her," Cardin grumbled.

"If she's a friend of those girls, she's a friend of mine. They needed help, and trusted us with that. We're going to be good neighbors and assist them. They've stopped crime in this neighborhood from becoming too rampant, and made it possible to live in Vale again. We will not turn them away when they're looking for help. They have never turned us away, not once."

"It's insane how blindly you'll trust a stranger." Cardin sighed.

"You don't remember what it was like before Qrow and Taiyang came to Vale. You don't know what it was like. These girls are necessary for us to stay alive. So, you're going to suck it up, and deal with being uncomfortable, and learn to trust those who help you." The machine stopped once more.

"Your aunt and uncle would be very disappointed in you." Mr. Winchester spoke extremely sternly.

The machine began again.

I turned and looked at Brooke. Her ears were practically flat against her head, and her tail was tucked entirely up against her leg. I tried to read the expression in her eyes, but it was a mix somewhere between fear, anxiety, and anger. She was shaking slightly, but from which of the emotions, I could not tell. I grabbed her upper arm and dragged her down the aisle, back to where the other three girls were waiting.

Yang saw us coming and immediately ran to us. Brooke wasn't able to make eye contact with anyone, but I sat her down on a small stool usually used for trying on shoes. I quietly and quickly explained what we had overheard to the other three girls, trying not to be loud enough for Brooke to hear it again, but I knew that would be unlikely with her sensitive ears.

Brooke closed her eyes and leaned back up against the rack where shoes were displayed. Her ears were still pressed up against her head, but her tail had been removed from between her legs so she wasn't sitting on it. Instead, it wrapped around into her lap, and she was mindlessly running her fingers through the fur.

Ruby looked over at the wolf Faunus, and gave us a nod. "Give me a few minutes alone to talk to her."

I nodded, knowing that Ruby had historically been the most successful at getting through to Brooke. Yang, Weiss, and myself walked over to another part of the store, pretending to look through clothes while I tried to process everything that had just happened.

* * *

 **Ruby POV**

I walked over and pulled up a stool next to Brooke.

"Hey," I said softly.

Brooke opened her eyes and looked at me. "Hi."

"You know we aren't going to let him do anything, right?" I put my hand on hers, comfortingly.

Brooke sighed and looked away. "I've always lived kind of isolated. The few humans I ever interacted with never had problems with me being a Faunus. I'd heard of the discrimination, but I'd never… experienced it. There's something about someone sneering while calling you a 'thing' just kind of gets to you."

"I know, it's messed up. It makes you understand what the White Fang used to stand for… Makes you understand why Blake joined all those years ago." I sighed.

"I understand why I have to hide like Blake now." Brooke's ears were flat against her head, once again, and she leaned back once more, closing her eyes.

"Yeah, I know. But once we've got all the clothes you'll be able to be safe and not have to worry about any of these people anymore."

"But I'm always going to have to worry about them! What if they see through my disguise? What if it's too obvious? And even if someone doesn't know about me, if they say something to me about Faunus, I don't know what I'll do. Or even if they don't say it, the fact that people can even _think_ these things makes my stomach churn." Brooke slammed her head into the shelves she leaned against, her eyes still closed.

I sat forward. She didn't react to her own head smacking into the hard, wooden shelf. She just kept running her fingers through the fur on her tail.

"Brooke…" I said softly. Brooke opened one eye and glanced towards me. "You can't do this to yourself."

"Do what?" she muttered.

"Get yourself so worked up about this. It sucks. I know it sucks. The world we live in sucks, and I wish we could fix things on a larger scale. But we're just a handful of girls fighting for survival. We can't change this city; we can't change this kingdom. We certainly can't change this world or the attitudes that people hold. We can do some things though. We can help the people around us. We can refuse to let this world get to us. We can refuse to become like the rest of them. We can stand up in solidarity and fend for ourselves. We can look out for each other. We can survive."

Brooke sat forward and looked at me. She opened her mouth to speak to a moment, but sighed instead, leaning back against the shelf once more. Her ears perked up a bit.

"Did Blake hide before she joined you?" Brooke asked after a few more moments of silence.

I nodded. "We didn't know about the bow until after she admitted that she had joined the Fang. She was still super scared, scared that we knew. But we helped her install confidence. People mention the bow all the time now without Blake missing a beat. We'll get there with you too."

Brooke said nothing in response again. Silence. A breath. It felt like we were back in the basement, Brooke refusing to answer our questions, remaining silent and defiant.

She looked down at her tail and stopped running her fingers through it. She released it from her grasp, and it whisked around to the back of her body. She took a deep breath and stood up, standing up straight and broadening her shoulders.

I stood up next to her, placing my hand on her shoulder. "We've got you, Brooke. You aren't alone here."

Brooke turned her head to me. "Thank you," she said softly, just before the two of us walked back towards the rest of the group.

* * *

 **Yang POV**

Brooke and Ruby returned to us just a few minutes after Ruby had gone off to talk to her. Brooke had a stern look on her face; the face that meant she did not want to talk about whatever it was that was bothering her. Of course, we knew what the problem was, but we also knew that it would be best not to poke the wol- err, bear.

The awkward silence did not last much longer. Mr. Winchester came around from the back of the store, holding a couple pairs of pants in his arms. Brooke put on a fake smile, and thanked the tailor for his work. She took all of her clothes and headed off into a dressing room to try on the new outfits we had picked out.

Mr. Winchester engaged us in some small talk while we waited for Brooke to return. I couldn't stop thinking about what Blake had said about Cardin. I was glad he hadn't come out from the back with his father, as I would absolutely punch him in the face if I saw him right now. He hurt my friend. He insulted my friend. He deserved a really hard smack, right to the jaw.

Brooke re-emerged from the dressing room. She looked badass. Her deep brown cargo pants fit perfectly, allowing her tail to move freely and comfortably. The shirts fit just fine, and the hat sat perfectly on her head to cover the ears with little suspicion. The coat, which she put on after getting out of the dressing room, to ensure that the pants were fine, blended in perfectly with her tail. Her belt was tucked away, around her pants, and she was able to swiftly reach through the coat and pull out her axe.

Brooke dashed around the store a bit, running to ensure mobility in her clothes. After leaping over several racks of clothing, she returned to us.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Winchester. This is perfect," Brooke nodded.

"Of course, Ms. Timber! Anytime you need clothes, come here. I'll fix you up with whatever you need for free. I hope you girls have a safe night!" Mr. Winchester bowed to us as we exited the store.

We exited the store into the night. Blake instinctively grabbed my hand, desiring to protect me through the dark. But Brooke's eyes were also scanning the streets. Things were quiet and empty, as they usually were in Vale at night.

Brooke was still on edge, the blur of dark brown in the moonlight. Knowing her anxious tendencies, her tail was either wagging anxiously or tucked between her legs. The coat did a great job at covering it up, either way.

"What now?" Brooke asked as we continued to walk down the dark block, heading back towards the center block of our district.

"We should split up for the night's patrols. Normally we go two and two, but we'll go three and two for tonight. Weiss and I will take the South half of the district, and you three will take the North," Ruby said firmly.

"Would it make sense to split Blake and myself up? More eyes." Brooke spoke carefully, avoiding using the word Faunus.

"Ruby and I have patrolled alone enough to know what we're doing. The extra eyes are helpful, but necessary on most nights." Weiss nodded.

"Alright," Brooke replied. Her shoulders were stiff and anxious. There was a bit of me that really hoped that Blake and I would manage to calm her down, but I doubted this night would end with a calm Brooke. The three of us whisked away into the night, ready to take on whatever the streets of Vale threw at us.

* * *

Brooke quickly learned how boring patrols could be.

There wasn't a whole lot of action tonight, or lately in general. We kept up our presence, as it not only made the citizens feel safer, but really did keep crime rates in the area down. Most of patrol simply meant walking around the blocks, tracing our path up and down carefully through the streets. We were "on call", meaning that any of the citizens in the area could call us and report anything that was going on.

I had wiggled my hand free of Blake's, trying to make sure that Brooke didn't feel like she was uncomfortable or third wheeling. I knew why Ruby had sent Brooke off with us. Her anxieties over Cardin's words had not yet settled.

"This is what most days are like, honestly." Blake broke a long silence. "Just walking around, sort of hoping that something happens, kind of happy that nothing does."

Brooke nodded. "I see."

I sighed. "What's bugging you, Brooke?"

I received a flashing glare from Brooke as she stopped walking to my left.

"You know what," she grumbled.

"Brooke, you can't let him get to you." I lowered my voice.

"I already got the spiel from Ruby." Brooke's voice matched the low, hushed undertone of my own.

"Then why are you still moping around?"

"Because everyone assumes that it's like I can just turn away from what he said. From what he _thought_."

Blake spun on her heel, leaving a shadow of herself to the right, and butting in between myself and Brooke. "Nope. I'm not having this."

I remained silent, and so did Brooke. Blake spoke, low and hushed, just as we had.

"You've both got good points but we are _not_ doing this. Brooke has every right to be upset about what happened, and it's a little unfair that everyone is assuming that she should just get over it, because that isn't something that you instantly get over. However, she also shouldn't be shutting herself down and not allowing herself to get cheered up."

"Sorry," I muttered, just loud enough for the two girls to here.

"I'm sorry too," Brooke whispered back.

Blake put a hand on each of our shoulders. "I never thought I'd see the day where I'd be in this position." She wasn't wrong. Usually it was me resolving petty issues amongst the others, usually Weiss and Blake.

Blake sighed as she took her arms down and we continued walking.

"So," Blake asked, trying to break the silence once more, "do you ever wonder why we're here?"

* * *

 **AN:**

Thanks to everyone who's been reading through all this! It's kind of insane to me that even a couple hundred people have looked at my writing, but that's just me being amazed that some people like what I'm writing. The exposition is finally done being set up, and things are going to start to get really serious (and maybe kind of dark) in the next chapter. I most likely won't be able to upload again for a couple of days, simply because I have several papers due and I want the next chapter to have a lot of effort put into it, but I'll have it up as soon as I can!

As always, thank you for reading! :D


	6. Chapter 6: Wise Words

**Author's Note**

Thanks to everyone who's been reading, following, and favoriting. It really means a lot!

I'm really excited to release this chapter and keep writing as this story progresses. It was a really fun and interesting chapter to write. Things are about to take a darker turn than I had originally anticipated, so I have changed some of the tags on this story, from Adventure/Friendship to Friendship/Drama, but I may end up changing it again depending on how the last few chapters go.

Again, things start to get pretty dark in this chapter, and it's going to continue down a darker path, so I'd figure I'd just give a bit of a warning before hand.

I hope you enjoy! :D

* * *

Chapter 6

Wise Words

 **Blake POV**

It did not take long for Brooke to adjust to the patrolling lifestyle.

She had never really been a very talkative girl, but she seemed even quieter on patrols. She switched back and forth, between joining Ruby & Weiss and Yang & myself. She usually picked, but pretty much alternated each night.

Brooke's anxieties over Cardin's words did not seem to disappear. She only ever observed conversations, very occasionally chiming in. I found her looking at the moon often as we walked. I wondered a lot about her past, but said nothing. She probably wouldn't answer my questions anyways.

About a week after Brooke had begun to join us on the patrols, Yang managed to get ahold of some liquor by sweettalking one of the local pub owners. It had been months since the last time any of us had alcohol, but after the stressful, tension filled week we had all had, Yang had decided it was time to unwind. On a night in which Brooke was with Ruby and Weiss, Yang and I made a pit stop at a local bar before heading back home in the morning.

"I'd never take you four for drinkers," Brooke commented when Yang removed the liquor from a bag she had brought out with her on patrol.

"We aren't that huge on it," I shrugged.

"We just do it every once in a while. It helps to cope with all of this when things get really rough." Yang placed the third and final small bottle on the living room table.

Ruby emerged from the kitchen with five glasses and some mixers.

"Even you, Ruby?" Brooke cocked her head slightly in bewilderment.

Ruby nodded. "I was the first person to suggest it. Our Uncle Qrow used to do it all the time. A bit too often, but it's necessary sometimes."

Yang made us drinks with the liquors and the mixers. If we lived in another life, my bet was that Yang would be a bartender. She always made great drinks, and she definitely had the form to get a lot of tips. A part of me longed for a normal life like that, but the other part of me was happy that Yang was all mine.

We didn't want to get blackout drunk, as we still had to patrol tomorrow, but just enough to get a bit tipsy and talk freely, able to blame anything we wanted on the alcohol. None of us knew what type of drinker Brooke was, but she had obviously drunk before, by the way that she was handling things.

At first, things were still fairly silent. I sat on the couch, my legs propped up on top of the table. Yang found herself laying with her head in my lap, staring at the ceiling. Weiss had her legs kicked up to the side of her on her couch, and Ruby found herself draped across one of the reclining chairs. Brooke didn't move from her normal cross-legged position in her normal reclining chair.

Weiss was the first to break the silence as she got a bit tipsier.

"I still can't really believe they left me behind, ya know?" Weiss's voice struck through the air.

Weiss had never talked about her family. According to Yang, she only ever mentioned them on the first day, when the sisters found her, and the day that Brooke asked everyone about their stories. I'd learned of Weiss's story from Yang. Weiss was a really reserved individual. She only ever really talked to Ruby, as they were patrol partners, but even Ruby didn't know a whole lot about Weiss's past.

So, naturally, Weiss's words had interested me. I sat forward a little bit, careful not to disturb Yang's head, which had turned towards Weiss. Ruby turned as well, and Brooke's ears and eyes were on full alert.

"Your family?" Ruby asked softly.

"Yeah," Weiss murmured softly, looking at her glass. "They just left me like that. They just left me here in Vale, without even trying. They haven't even contacted me since that day." A hiccup. "Sometimes I wonder if they left me here on purpose."

"I don't think they left you here on purpose." Yang spoke from my lap.

"They didn't even try though. They didn't even try to get me back." I could see Weiss's eyes filling up with water.

"It's very hard to contact the other regions. I don't think it was ever on purpose." I spoke, making a poor attempt to calm her down.

"All my life, I'd been taught that money can get you anywhere. And we had a lot of money. A _lot_ of money. But they still never came. The police know who I am. They know where I am. If Atlas officials tried to contact Vale officials, they could have found me. But they never did. I don't think they ever will. Father never liked me much anyways. And my mother…" Weiss hiccupped once more. "My mother was a drunk. She never cared."

None of us could find the words to comfort Weiss. She had already begun to cry.

"They always liked the other two more. My older sister, the perfect girl. My little brother, a daddy's boy. And then there was me. The failure. The misfit. The only one who they did not like. I never thought it would go this far." Tears were streaming down her face.

Ruby got up from her chair and came and sat down next to Weiss. The girl was shaking slightly, and Ruby took her glass from her and set it down on the table. Ruby wrapped her arms around Weiss in a large hug. Weiss leaned up against Ruby and continued to cry, allowing herself to receive the hug.

"They say you don't get to pick your family. But sometimes, your real family picks you." Brooke spoke, out of nowhere. Everyone's head turned to her, including Weiss.

"The people here love you and care about you very much. There's a strong sense of sisterhood in this home. Look at who's hugging you. Look at those who offer words of comfort. They care about you. You all care about each other. Whatever happened with your family, I don't know if you'll ever get those answers. But you have family here, too. It doesn't have to be biological to have the bonds of a true family. It doesn't stop the pain of the past, but it helps you cope. Sometimes, that's all you need to get by." Brooke was still sitting cross-legged and blank faced, and was staring Weiss in her teary eyes.

Weiss brushed the tears away from her face. We all remained silent, waiting for a response from Weiss. She looked around at the four of us, Brooke included.

"Thank you. All of you. For everything." Weiss held back some sobs.

There were a few more minutes of silence as Weiss gathered herself and her emotions. Brooke's facial expression did not change, just a blank stare. The only difference was instead of staring at Weiss, she was staring at the wall across from her. I glanced at her, but she seemed not to notice, deep in thought. Could it be possible that alcohol made her a wise drunk? I'd never heard of such a thing. Perhaps it just allowed her to let down her barrier that she held so closely and speak her mind.

"Why do you guy call this place a safe house? Why not just call it your home, or your house?" Brooke spoke once again. She definitely seemed the latter type of drunk.

The other three turned their attention to her.

"What?" Yang asked softly.

"You guys always call this place a safe house. You never refer to it as your home, just a safe house. The safe house. Your safe house. But it's your only home. It's just a home. What makes it so special that it's considered a safe house?" Brooke's eyes left the wall and looked at Yang, the only one to respond to her question.

We looked at each other in a bit of confusion. I wasn't even sure _why_ we called it a safe house. That's what the other three referred to it as when I joined. I'd never really questioned it before. My life had been a bit of a warzone for some time, so it wasn't that unusual to me. But this wasn't like other _actual_ safe houses I had stayed in. Those had people cycling in and out. This… this was just the four, now five, of us.

"Dad and Uncle Qrow always called it a safe house, even after we left Patch," Ruby answered after thinking for a few moments. "We just never changed it I guess."

"Dad never considered this place our home. Our home was in Patch. This was just a place for us to stay because home wasn't safe anymore." Yang chimed in.

"But Vale isn't safe either," Brooke's eyes shifted to whoever was speaking, but she maintained the same blank stare.

"I don't know why they chose to come here. But they did, and we can't exactly ask them." Yang shrugged.

Brooke sighed but did not press the issue further. Her eyes shifted to the ground, where her blank stare changed to a furrowing brow, a thinking face. Silence filled the room once more as we finished our drinks. Yang stood up, readying herself to make another round.

"The White Fang makes no sense to me." Brooke's head snapped up from the ground. No one spoke, but simply looked at her quizzically, waiting to see where she would take this one.

"The Fang… They want equality, right?" Brooke looked to me.

I nodded in response.

"Do they think that what they've done to Vale is equality?" Brooke's eyes did not leave mine.

I thought for a moment. "The current leader… Adam… He doesn't want equality. He wants revenge. He sees this as revenge."

Brooke scoffed slightly. "It just baffles me, ya know? Ignorance breeds fear, fear breeds hate, hate breeds ignorance. It's an endless cycle. The Fang just skips the ignorance part all together. Just breeding fear and hate. This isn't equality. This isn't justice. This is just… Fucked up."

"You're telling me," I took my new drink from Yang, who had finished preparing the round. "That's why I _left_. It's not equality or justice anymore. It's just about revenge and making the life of humans a living hell."

"But it's not just humans! They hurt Faunus too. Even outside of Vale, the stigma of the Fang is there. All Faunus are assumed to sympathize with the Fang. They're shunned and looked down upon. Their companies are rarely used, and they're treated so unfairly. Either they have no choice but to join the Fang because they can't make it in the human society, or they are scared into it by Fang members. And those of us that don't want either of those have to hide who we are, like you and me. I hate that hat; I hate that goddamn hat so much. I hate being restricted. I hate the coat. But I know it's necessary. Because if I don't hide, either the Fang will find me, or no one will trust me. It's just so _fucked_ up."

Brooke's wall was definitely down. It seemed insane that she had a wall to begin with. I don't think I'd ever heard her talk this much, except for maybe when she was telling us her story. But even then, it was just facts of what happened. This was an insight to her, her as a person, how she thought and felt.

"Don't we know it," Yang shook her head as she sat down next to me. "Preach all you want, but that's not gonna change things. It sucks, we just gotta live with it."

"But you _don't_. Don't get me wrong, what you four do here is great, it really is, but… Don't you ever want things to change? Don't you see? If you just sit around and play fake cop forever by patrolling your little corner of the world, things will never change. You'll grow old and die, just like your father and uncle-,"

"Don't you dare say anything about my dad and my uncle!" Yang slammed her glass down on the table, fire in her eyes. "You know nothing about them!"

I placed a hand on Yang's shoulder, giving her a sharp glare. "Easy, Yang. Easy." I pushed her back into her seat so her back was against the couch.

"Yang, hear me out here. I'm not wrong, okay? I know what the outside world is like. And holy _shit_ , this place sucks! You just act like this is fine! It's _not_ fine. There's a life you should be living, and this is not it. Vale is like a goddamn war zone. The world is at _peace_. And here you are, living in a safe house, fighting a war on the streets. But you aren't even fighting. You're just defending. If you never stop defending, the world will stay the same."

Brooke gently placed her glass on the table and sat up on the edge of her seat.

"I don't know how much you all have seen of the rest of Vale, but there's no one out there like you four. There's no one out there gearing up to change things. The government is corrupt, the police are corrupt, the Fang runs everything, and nothing is going to change. People _die_ , every single goddamn day. People are murdered and robbed and raped and there is no safety patrol at night. Hell, if some of the people I saw out there came inside these blocks, they'd tear you girls to shreds. This isn't just survival, this _is_ war. And if you don't take the offensive stance first, you eventually aren't going to have anything left to protect."

Silence. We _knew_ she was right. None of us wanted to admit it.

"What are you going to do about it then?" Yang asked, still a little ticked off.

"I'm going to find my sister. I'm going to kill Alicia, and I'm going to kill Adam. And I'm gonna see that this kingdom gets _fixed_ , one step at a time."

"Hey now," I tilted my glass in her direction, "if we get close enough to the point where Adam could die, he's my kill. The damn bastard owes me his goddamn life, after all the shit he did to me." I could feel my wall coming down too. It felt as if Brooke had spread her form of drunkenness to me. But I couldn't seem to find the will to care anymore.

Yang's eyes flickered a bit. I rarely, rarely ever talked about Adam. Even to her. I avoided my past at all costs, and Yang respected that. But I brought it up, so I'd trapped myself. But to be quite frank, I couldn't care less. I was all for what Brooke was saying. I completely agreed. Nothing was going to change unless we took action.

"What do you mean after all the shit he did to you?" Yang asked, fire flickering in and out of her eyes.

"I don't think now is the best tim-," I began, but Yang cut me off.

"I want to know." The fire in her eyes was burning solidly now.

I shifted uncomfortably. I knew Yang wasn't mad at me, she was mad at the idea of Adam doing something to me.

"His power was not the only thing he abused." I spoke softly.

I could feel the words slipping from my mouth. I don't know if it was the alcohol, or Brooke's speech, or both, but every instinct I'd ever had washed away. My mind didn't really process that I was telling them all things I had been guarding for years. Everyone assumed he was abusive at most, from the way I had described him on the two occasions that I had ever spoken about him, when I met the group, and when we told our stories to Brooke. But I was saying it. I was saying it, something no one had known other than him and myself.

"He used to hit me. A lot. His words were even more hurtful than that. And sometimes, he would rape me."

* * *

 **Brooke POV**

Blake's words echoed throughout the room. Yang's fury was still there, but a mixture of fury and sadness. She wrapped her arms around Blake, whose eyes were filling with tears, giving Blake a place to hide her face. Ruby and Weiss remained silent, still hugging each other from earlier, with Weiss's outbreak.

"I'm going to fucking kill him," Yang muttered beneath her breath, her words slurring together in both anger and drunkenness.

I wondered for a mere moment how Blake had gotten into a relationship with Yang so quickly after fleeing from Adam. Yang's temper wasn't exactly the best thing in the world, but I'd realized she'd never gotten angry at Blake. Even now, she wasn't angry at Blake for not telling her. Her arms were gentle and caring, wrapped around a crying Blake. Her eyes were furious, but her fury wasn't at Blake. It was at Adam. And despite her fury, she did everything she could to care for Blake.

I felt my stomach ball up in knots. If Adam did it, would Alicia also be as… I didn't want to think about that happening to my sister. But the worry didn't seem to end.

Blake spoke once again, her head peering out of Yang's embrace. "No. I'm going to fucking kill him."

"I don't want to burst any bubbles here, but _how_ exactly are we going to do any of this?" Weiss asked.

Yang's eyes flickered once more, glaring at Weiss. Blake took a moment to compose herself, allowing herself to no longer hide, but Yang still kept one arm around her. Even Ruby was a little bit shocked at Weiss's bluntness. My face returned to the blank stare I had mastered years ago, looking directly at Weiss.

"All this talk about like, killing all these people and overthrowing the White Fang. We're just five girls. What the hell are we gonna do?" Weiss asked once more.

"We aren't just any five girls, though." Ruby chimed in for the first time in a while. "We know how to fight. And we have a purpose, a reason. Brooke's right, you know, about change. If we don't do it, no one will."

"We're four 17-year-old girls and a 15-year-old girl, for crying out loud. The White Fang is a huge criminal organization. They're the goddamn mafia! We'd all die trying." Weiss scoffed.

"I would rather die trying to save my sister than sit around here and do nothing about it." I glared at Weiss. Everyone seemed to forget why I was here.

"Besides," I added, "they want me dead. Alicia wants me dead. They know I'm here. They know I'm in Vale, somewhere. If they find me, Alicia's going to want to fight me herself. There's not a single doubt in my mind."

Silence filled the room once more. Ruby and Blake were on board with my plan. Yang was hesitant at first, but after hearing what Blake said, there was not a doubt in my mind that she would stop at nothing to see this through. Weiss was the only one who still seemed unsure. I kept my eyes on her.

Weiss avoided my gaze for a few moments. She was deep in thought, ideas and opinions running through her buzzed mind. We all remained in silence, Ruby sipping her drink, Yang and Blake cuddling as Yang comforted Blake, and myself just staring at Weiss.

Finally, after what felt like forever, but was not much longer than a few moments, Weiss looked up.

"You're my family now. We're all sisters now. And that makes your sister my sister too. And if that's what you want to do, if that's what you feel is right, who am I to stop justice?" Weiss placed her glass down on the table.

I gave a small smile and nod. "Thank you."

I placed my glass down as well. It was a real shame that this alcohol didn't affect me. I would have loved to have forgotten about everything, just for one night. I'd grown up in a family of heavy drinkers, drinking really heavy liquor from a young age, far younger than Ruby.

I felt a bit bad by pretending to be drunk enough to let my guard down, but it was necessary. I had things I wanted to say, and I had said them. And finally, for once, something was going to happen. I was going to save my sister, or I was going to die trying.


	7. Chapter 7: Promises

**Author's** **Note**

Sorry for the delay in the uploading of this chapter! Between Thanksgiving Break, family, seeing old high school friends, and the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon, I've been quite a bit busy. I finally got it done, so I hope you do enjoy!

This was the first (sort of) fight scene that I've written, and it's barely a fight scene. It's more of a setup for what's to come in the next chapter, but we're getting really close to the end here!

Thanks to everyone who's been reading, following, and favoriting. I appreciate all of it!

Do enjoy, and if you celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving!

* * *

Chapter 7

Promises

 **Brooke POV**

I gave the girls one day to recover from the night of drinking. One more night of awkward, silent patrolling. We barely spoke at all since our discussion, even Yang and Ruby, who were always excited and had something to say.

On the second day after our discussion, I decided to take charge of things.

I had awoken earlier than usual, having finally gotten my own alarm clock. I got to the bathroom first, a very rare occurrence for me in this household. I'd always lived in a large family, so it wasn't something that was a new experience to me. It was still one of my least favorite parts of the day, rushing to get to the bathroom when you needed to in the morning.

I walked light on my feet, silent and careful, across the hall. The small hallway felt like the most crowded part of the house, with the 5 doors crammed up almost right against each other. Usually, the only door that was open was the bathroom. To my surprise, Weiss's door was wide open, as well as the bathroom, meaning she wasn't in her room nor the bathroom.

I slipped off into the bathroom, getting myself ready for the day. When I left, I noticed Weiss's door was still wide open. With the same, careful, light feet, I slid past Weiss's room to peer in slightly.

Weiss's bed was empty, untouched from the night before. Her weapon laid on the dresser, and a large, flowy dress I had never seen her wear was hung on a coatrack in the corner of the room. Ruby had once told me that her and Weiss used to wear dresses before the fall of Vale, but the lifestyle that they had adapted to had forced them into more mobile clothes, pants. The dress, a relic from Weiss's past, reminded me that she _was_ once a heiress. It made me wonder how much her past really haunted her, and how much she hid away. Looking at my cloak everyday made me sad, but it also reminded me of my mission. Weiss only brought a reminder of pain to herself by leaving it out.

I slipped back into my room before anyone could catch me looking in there. A few minutes were left before other alarms were scheduled to go off, but I waited for the others to wake up before leaving my room again.

After getting myself properly dressed, minus the hat and coat, I walked over to my coatrack and pulled the cloak off the hook, running my fingers over the reminder of my own past. I was doing the right thing here today. I had to do this, for Silvia. She _needed_ me.

I sat on my bed, caressing the cloak in my hands as I heard the sounds of alarms going off in sync throughout the hall. They were loud enough to be heard throughout the building, but usually not loud enough to wake up people in another room, not even Blake and myself with our sensitive Faunus ears. Two alarms snapped off, but a third never even started.

I waited for three more minutes to allow the girls some time to wake up. Yang and Blake usually took a while to get out and going. Ruby was usually up right away, but I didn't hear her door open either.

Three minutes passed. I stood up, and hung my cloak back on the hook. Taking a deep sigh, I walked towards my door. I walked down the hall, making my way for Ruby's door first.

I briskly knocked three times on Ruby's door. There was a soft hiss from inside, a simple "Shit." It was Weiss.

A few moments passed, and then Ruby opened her door. I looked down at the girl, trying not to look directly at Weiss, who was sitting, very red-faced, on Ruby's bed.

"I'm calling for a house meeting in 20 minutes. I've got some stuff I want to talk about," I said to Ruby, loud enough for Weiss to hear as well.

Ruby gave a small nod. "Got it." I turned away as she closed the door.

Weiss had seemed really embarrassed, but to be frank, I honestly couldn't care less about who stayed in who's room at night. I just wanted to get this ball rolling.

I knocked on the door to the master bedroom. After about twice the time Ruby had taken, Yang answered the door. I told her the same thing I had told Ruby, and she reacted in about the same way.

I whisked away downstairs, ready to make everyone their breakfast beverages, and mentally preparing myself for the task ahead.

* * *

 **Blake POV**

The four of us said nothing to each other as we walked down the stairs, knowing what was to come. It was only a matter of time before the subject got brought back up again, and Brooke had decided that now was the time.

The tray with our breakfast drinks was set out on the coffee table in the living room. Brooke was sitting in her chair, her tail twisted around to rest in her lap, as she did when she was nervous. She gave us a small nod, her mug in one hand, and her other hand running through the fur on her tail.

We all took our drinks, still silent. I sat down cross-legged on the couch, and the rest followed suit to our usual positions. We looked over to Brooke, who was watching us all carefully.

"I've called for this meeting because I'm serious about what we said the other night. I want to find my sister. I don't know if the rest of you were serious, but I am, and I'm going to do it." Brooke was still stiff and nervous, but her voice was confident and serious.

"I was serious too," I said with a nod. Four heads snapped towards me. "I'm going to fight."

Yang nodded, placing a hand on my knee. "I'm with you both."

Ruby and Weiss exchanged a very brief glance, but spoke at the same time. "I'm in."

Brooke's tail slid out of her lap, her nervousness going down. "Good. We need a game plan."

I rose an eyebrow at Brooke, realizing something. "Brooke, we've never seen you fight, and you've never told us your semblance."

Brooke gave a small nod. "Yeah, I know. That was one of the things I was going to bring up. We need to train together, at least for a little bit, so I can get used to fighting with you all. I know Weiss's semblance, the glyphs, and Ruby's, the speed." Brooke's hand, whether consciously or subconsciously, rubbed the back of her head, where Ruby had smashed her into the rooftop all those nights ago. Ruby's face flushed red, but Brooke either didn't notice or pretended not to. "But I still haven't seen yours or Yang's."

Yang opened her mouth, but Brooke held up a hand, cutting her off. "I want to go about learning about those two in a different way. The only way to understand my own semblance is to see it in action, and it will help me if I'm going in blind."

"Going in where?" I asked.

"I want you two to fistfight me, in the basement." Brooke spoke with the most serious of faces.

Yang and I exchanged a glance. Yang was literally a boxer. This wasn't going to go well.

"I don't think that's the best of ideas…" Yang mumbled.

"I'll dodge every single hit you try to throw my way. I'm serious. There will never be a point in which any of us get hurt, that I can guarantee." Brooke was extremely sure of herself.

Yang and I exchanged a glance once more.

"Brooke, you don't know what you're getting yourself into her-," Yang attempted to warn her, but was cut short.

"And we don't know exactly what we're getting ourselves into out there, fighting the Fang. We don't know exactly what we're up against. I know Alicia's fighting style, and I assume Blake knows Adam's."

I felt my face flush red when Brooke said his name. The elephant in the room from the other night had been addressed.

Yang squeezed my knee gently. I slipped my free hand into hers, trying not to really seem phased by any of this. I had gotten too emotional the other night, with my guard down from the alcohol. Now I still had the ability to wall myself off, but everyone already _knew_.

"We train for a little while, get used to fighting with me on the team now too. Then we go. We go into the night, up to North Vale, the only lead we have, to try and find the headquarters. And then we fight." Brooke continued, still either not noticing or pretending to not notice what had happened with me and Yang.

"That's it? That's the master plan?" Ruby asked.

Brooke nodded. "We don't exactly have a whole lot to go off on here."

"The longer we wait, the worse things could be." I gave a small nod of agreement.

"So, Brooke, are you ready to fistfight a boxer?" Yang asked, a mischievous smile forming across her face.

Brooke smirked back, cocky. "I can't wait to become the first opponent you can't land a single hit on."

* * *

 **Ruby POV**

After we cleared the few pieces of furniture from the holding room into the basement hallway, we got ready to watch the fight.

"No weapons. Just fists." Brooke placed her axe on the table before entering the room.

Yang nodded, placing her gauntlets on the table next to the axe. My sister's Ember Cecilia only enhanced her punches, but in reality, Yang's already powerful fists were the real weapons.

We had left the door open, but watched from behind the large window. There was not nearly enough room for the 3 of us to watch from the doorway, and we were all a little nervous about how physical this would really get. But we trusted Brooke's plan. She'd been so sure about her ability to dodge every hit thrown at her.

Brooke and Yang stood, facing each other, in the middle of the room. I walked over to the doorway, and called it out.

"One… two… three… Go!"

Quickly dashing back over to the window, I watched as the two girls squared up against each other.

Yang was light on her feet, bouncing, just like a real boxer. Her fists covered her face while she analyzed Brooke's stance and movements.

Brooke, on the other hand, held her hands up, but did not bounce like Yang. Her eyes were scanning Yang very carefully, yet quickly, far faster than seemed physically possible.

Yang pulled back slightly, getting ready to throw the first punch with her right arm. Brooke's eyes lit up slightly as she saw this, gearing up for what was to come her way.

The reaction was so fast. Yang had only pulled back a centimeter, if that, in just one second. But one second was enough time for Brooke to react to the fist flying to the right of her head. Simply tilting to the left, Brooke easily dodged the first throw.

Yang, however, was only getting started. A follow up fist, from the left, was headed for exactly where Brooke would obviously have dodged the first fist. Brooke's eyes flashed to the other hand for what felt like half a second, and her head tilted back as it also tilted to the left.

Brooke had successfully dodged a move Yang often used for those who were very reactive. It was hard to focus on both fists at once, but Yang didn't give up that fast.

A small bit of anger flashed through Yang's eyes. She bounced forward, attempting to rapid fire punches at Brooke. Brooke dodged every single one with extremely slight movements, her body reacting faster than I thought to be possible. Not once did one of Yang's fists make physical contact with Brooke.

With each dodged punch, Yang grew increasingly angry. This was an interesting development for us to observe as well. In the past, Yang's semblance only activated when she had gotten hit several times. Yet, Brooke seemed to be provoking Yang to the point of her semblance by frustrating her with missed hits instead of return impact.

Yang's leg swung out, in an attempt to do a low sweep. Brooke jumped backwards, performing an elegant backflip in order to dodge not only the foot, but also the furious punches that followed up.

Brooke landed back on her feet, her arms by her side. Yang's semblance fully activated, her eyes flashing red as fire seemed to engulf the blonde girl. I saw Blake dash into the room from the corner of my eye.

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Blake rushed forward, attempting to subdue Yang.

But Blake had been too late. Stopping suddenly, Blake gasped as one of Yang's flaming fists rushed forward, heading straight for Brooke's unprotected face. In an almost cartoonish manor, Brooke simply took a single step back at the last possible second, as Yang's fist flailed through the air for an empty target.

Blake let out a sigh of relief as she stood between the two girls.

"Easy, it's over. She did it. She dodged all your punches. Fight's over." Blake said, her voice calming down the angry Yang. Yang blinked, her eyes reverting to her usual lilac.

Yang looked at Brooke in amazement. "How?"

"If I told you, it would spoil it for Blake. Very interesting semblance, by the way." Brooke did not smirk or act cocky. She was still maintaining a very serious, yet calm composure from the fight.

"Normally it activates when I get hurt. Apparently when I get frustrated, too. Never seen it do that before," Yang gave a small shrug.

"Now it's my turn," Blake said, staring down the wolf Faunus.

Brooke nodded, and reverted to her starting stance.

* * *

 **Brooke POV**

Time had always been an interesting concept to me.

People often complained about time. Not enough time, too much time, wasting time, needing more time. I'd heard it all my life.

I only ever had one complaint about time. It took too long. Well, for me anyways.

Sometimes I honestly felt as if my semblance was more of a curse. It was extremely helpful in battles, yes, but the probably three-minute fight with Yang felt to me as if it had lasted thirty.

I took my stance as a defeated Yang left the small room. Blake narrowed her eyes on me, so confused by what she had seen.

Ruby stood in the doorway, ready to call the fight once more.

"One… Two… Three… Go!" the small girl yelled out.

Blake took no time to throw her first punch. She was no boxer, like Yang, but she was certainly still a force to be reckoned with. I leaped backwards as her fist hit the air where I had once stood.

I felt my tail flicking behind me. That was too easy. Worried of what was to come, I braced myself, activating my semblance.

Time slowed down. I watched as what appeared to be a shadow formed behind Blake, who seemed to be frozen in the air in this slow time. The shadow jumped forwards, a fist flying towards me _through_ what I had thought was Blake. The image of Blake seemed to explode into mid-air, as it appeared that her black shadow was the real her.

I ducked as time resumed normally. Blake, helplessly confused, did not notice as I rolled in between her legs and around to her back.

Jumping around to face me again, Blake said a single word. "How?"

I smirked. "Nice shadows."

Blake's brow furrowed and another punch flew out.

I slowed down time once more. Blake was not like Yang; she did not need to try and trick people in plain sight. Blake simply needed to make her opponents move the way she wanted them to. Her shadows were instant, but in my world, an instant is a hundred years.

Blake's shadow was not attempting to throw out another punch, but to get behind me. I dashed forward, breaking through the image of Blake and spinning around on my heel to face my opponent once more. Just like time, my movements were extremely slow. However, the delayed time allowed me to make the smallest adjustments that no one else could make, allowing myself to dodge whatever I needed to.

Time resumed as normal. Blake cocked her head to one side, confused as to how I had seen her shadow once more.

"I'm not going to sit here and play cat and mouse," Blake glowered as she lowered her stance. "No pun intended."

I lowered my arms as well, giving a small nod.

"How did you know where I was going?" Blake asked, her eyes narrowing as she scanned me once more.

I glanced at the window. The uncomfortable feeling of being watched that stemmed from my two weeks in this room was creeping back. "This discussion is better suited upstairs."

* * *

 **Yang POV**

"Imagine, if you will, that you literally had all the time in the world. What would you do with it?" Brooke asked after we had all sat back down in the living room.

"Get out of this hellhole," Blake muttered beneath her breath.

Brooke, apparently, was asking a rhetorical question, and ignored Blake's response. She dangled a small pocket watch, attached to a chain, in her hand. I was filled with confusion. I had no clue where she had gotten that.

Brooke opened the watch. It was ticking regularly.

"Imagine you could slow down time," Brooke spun a small dial on the side of the pocket watch. The ticking went from every second, to every five seconds. She spun it more. Every ten seconds.

"When I'm in battle and I activate my semblance, every second lasts ten seconds. I have ten seconds to react to every movement that occurs within a second. Battles that last minutes for some can last hours for me. I've got all the time in the world, and I hate it."

Brooke snapped the watch shut.

That's how she dodged literally everything I had thrown at her. She had the time to see and react to literally everything. That's how she saw Blake's shadows. She had the time.

I looked at the wolf Faunus carefully. She was rubbing her fingers over the casing of the watch.

"There's real time, and there's slow time. I can only hold for about thirty seconds of real time, which is about five minutes of slow time. The battle between Yang and I lasted for a whole three minutes of real time, but to me, it was thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes?!" I exclaimed.

Brooke nodded. "It's a blessing and a curse. I can dodge, I can survive, but everything is so slow. Battles, to me, are a series of minor movements of muscles. Simple jerks and jabs can be the difference between win and lose. I don't spend every second in slow time. Otherwise things would never end. I can hop back and forth with ease, allowing things to resume in real time briefly. So, it was probably a bit less than thirty minutes. Maybe twenty-five. But my point remains."

"Speed, glyphs, shadows, fury, time." Ruby looked around the room, at each individual as she called out the semblances.

"Our semblances can work together, like we've been doing. But yours only affects you, right, Brooke?" Blake turned her head to Brooke.

"Yeah, I've tried many times to see if I could use it with my brother back home. But we never succeeded."

"Is there anything else other than your semblance and general fighting with your axe?" I asked.

Brooke gave a small nod. "My axe is very heavy. With the right momentum and movements, when I slam the handle down on the ground, it creates a tremor that extends circularly around me for about fifty feet. If people aren't expecting it, it usually either makes them fall over entirely or just lose their focus while they try to regain their balance."

"So," Weiss piped up, "when do we plan on executing all of this?"

At that exact moment, there was a very panicked knock at the door. All five of us leaped up, hands anxiously on our weapons, ready to strike.

"Girls! Are you home?" A familiar voice called from the front door. It was Mr. Winchester, the tailor.

I approached the front door and peered through the peephole. It was him, and him alone. He looked panicked, catching his breath, as if he had run all the way here from his shop.

I slid the bolt lock off the inside of the door and opened the door.

"Mr. Winchester, come inside," I said quickly, looking around anxiously out the window. His panicked demeanor had me on edge. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. It was almost nightfall, and this man had run all the way to our safe house at this time of the day.

The older man hurried inside. He looked around the room at the other four, hands still hovering over their weapons. His eyes locked on Brooke's.

"I am so sorry…" he shook his head, tears forming in his eyes.

"Mr. Winchester? What's wrong?" I asked quickly, placing a hand on the man's shoulder.

"My son… My cursed son. He… This morning, he was out, doing god knows what, in the Northern part of Vale for god knows what reason. He claimed he overheard some Faunus talking about how there was a wolf Faunus in Vale that was wanted by the Fang. He told them he knew who you were. He claims he didn't give an address, but he described you, and what clothes you wore to hide yourself, and that you're somewhere in this district."

A chilling silence filled the air.

"I am so sorry," the tailor spoke once more.

The four of us slowly turned to Brooke, fear in my heart, and fear in the eyes of the other three. Brooke did not speak, nor react, at first. Then she closed her eyes and gave a small nod.

"It is not your fault. Thank you for coming to warn us."

Brooke then turned to Weiss. "It appears that things will have to be executed tonight."


	8. Chapter 8: The Moonlight Hunt

Chapter 8

The Moonlight Hunt

 **Brooke POV**

"Ruby, Weiss, take Mr. Winchester back to his shop. He's going to need an escort this late at night. Blake, Yang, you two come with me. I want to get out of this district as soon as possible. The longer I'm here, the more of a danger I am to everyone around here. We'll have to meet at the tip of the district, the Northeast corner. From there, we'll head North once we're all together again, and begin tracking." I barked out orders to the four girls. There was no time to mess around. No time for anything, anymore.

The four seemed a bit shocked by my orders, but they nodded. Ruby and Weiss headed out first with Mr. Winchester.

This was it. Tonight, it's happening tonight. After such a long wait, I was going to find my sister. I was going to help her. I was going to kill that goddamn bitch Alicia. Blake could get her revenge on Adam. It happened tonight. Years of tension on both my side of the story and Blake's led up to tonight. I was ready for the end of this mess.

Something occurred to me, a knot forming in my stomach. What if the end of this mess meant the end of me? The end of Silvia? The end of the girls? The end of an era of peace and safety in this tiny section of Vale?

No one would ever know what happened tonight outside of us five. Everyone from the White Fang who witnessed what went down tonight would be dead before they got the chance to leave, I would personally make sure of that. If something were to go wrong… I needed to tell my family what happened. I had fled my pack to protect one of our own. I had to report back, whether it be in life or in death.

"Blake," I spoke firmly, "give me your scroll. I want to make a message to my family. Just… just in case."

Blake nodded and fumbled in her pocket for a moment, reaching around for her scroll. She pulled it out and handed it to me. I dashed upstairs, skipping stairs two at a time, headed for my bedroom.

* * *

 **Yang POV**

I looked at Blake, who was watching Brooke ascend up the staircase. I placed my hand around Blake's, which was still out from when she handed her scroll to Brooke.

"Hey," I spoke softly, her head turning towards me. "It's gonna be okay."

Blake said nothing in response. She threw her arms around the back of my neck and buried her head into my chest. I could feel her shaking as I wrapped my arms around her, rubbing her back to comfort her.

"Yang…" she murmured. "I'm scared."

Blake had never really been this… sensitive, about anything. There was genuine fear in her voice. My strong Blake was actually scared about what was to come.

"Everything's going to be okay," I whispered to Blake, bringing my hand up to run it through her hair.

"But what if it isn't?" Blake mumbled, glancing up at me.

"It will be," I assured her, holding her close to me. "We'll make it through what happens tonight. Whatever happens, we'll all be okay."

Blake took a deep breath, still shaking slightly. She lay her head down gently on my chest, as I continued to run my hand through her hair. A few minutes passed, our final few minutes of silence and peace before the chaos that we knew was about to come. Just Blake and I, standing there, in each other's arms, absorbing each other for as long as we could.

Blake looked up and gave me a small kiss before pulling away. She had heard the opening of Blake's bedroom door upstairs, as the wolf Faunus was headed back down the steps, Blake's scroll in hand.

"You can only watch if things go wrong. Otherwise, I want to delete it." Brooke handed back Blake her scroll.

Blake gave a small nod as Brooke turned around to grab her coat and hat off of the coat rack. The girl shrugged on her coat and pulled her hat tightly around her head. She took a deep breath as she removed the hand axe from her belt, holding it firmly in her right hand. With the Fang after her now, it made sense for her to be ready to protect herself.

"I'm ready," Brooke said, looking at the two of us. I looked at the girl, the figure from the rooftop. She had fury in her eyes, the inevitable bloodshed preparing itself to come. She had come such a long way, physically, and socially with us, in such a short time.

We dashed out the front door and into the night, ready to take on whatever Vale would throw our way.

We would not fail. For Brooke, for Blake, for Silvia, for every individual ever hurt by the Fang.

We would not fail.

* * *

 **Blake POV**

We took to the streets like three bullets dashing through the dark. We said nothing, heading for the Northeastern corner of our district. The night was still young, and there appeared to be no trouble about. But the air held a thick tension, as if the city could sense what was occurring here tonight.

I held Yang's hand as we ran through the night, Brooke leading us in the sprint. She didn't really need the guidance through the dark. It wasn't even really that dark. I just didn't know what was going to happen. Her hand in mine felt reassuring, like the words she had said about everything being okay were true.

The thought of Adam terrified me, but it also infuriated me. I wanted nothing more than to see him dead, on the ground. He'd hurt so many, not just myself. He had this coming for a very, very long time.

We arrived at the Northeastern corner before Ruby and Weiss, but it did not take long for them to catch up. Brooke's messages had taken a little bit of extra time, so it was probably only thirty seconds or so before the pair showed up at our designated spot.

"We're going to move to the Northern district. From there, we're going to climb the tallest building we can find. I don't know where the White Fang's headquarters is exactly, but I have an idea to help us find it," Brooke explained as soon as the five us met up.

There was a collective nod throughout the group just before we began dashing off into the night again. Being in a strange district felt very off. I had not left this district since the girls took me in. But here we were, on the edge of our world, darting off into the unknown, to kill the greatest threat to this city we called home.

We ran in silence, the only sound emerging from us being our feet hitting the sidewalk. The streets were eerily silent, our footsteps echoing off of the tall buildings and through alleyways.

These strange streets were darker than those in our own district, considering we managed the upkeep of things around there. Stores were either barred up or closed entirely. There was no sense of safety, but instead, a heavy feeling of fear. I was not sure if that was due to the nature of our mission, or the nature of our environment, but it reminded me that Vale had really become an extremely unsafe place to live.

We approached what was considered the Northern District, which was even more run down than the streets we had previously entered. We stuck strictly to alleyways, as the district with the Fang headquarters was bound to have plenty of Fang members wandering about. Yet still, the streets seemed fairly empty and quiet. I felt a sense of danger, but I attributed it once again to my fears of what was to come.

"That building!" Brooke suddenly hissed out as she pointed to a tall apartment complex. "We need to get to the top!"

We dashed into an alleyway behind the tall building. Observing our different paths up, Brooke took to a fire escape, where she seemed to effortlessly climb the side of the escape as opposed to the stairs themselves. It reoccurred to me that she grew up in some sort of forest, so climbing like that would be natural to her.

The other four of us took the same paths we had all those weeks ago when we climbed the building to chase Brooke across the rooftops. Weiss and Ruby worked together to quickly get Ruby to the top using their semblances. I used Gambol Shroud to maneuver my way up by bouncing back and forth between the building and the building behind the alleyway until I reached the top of the back building. Then, I used the remainder of the fire escape to dart up the stairs to the top. Yang and Weiss used Weiss's glyphs and Yang's bullets from her Ember Cecilia to leap up the side of the building, bit by bit.

Ruby made it to the top first, followed by Blake, then myself, and then Yang and Weiss. Brooke was pacing the building, looking down upon the district.

"There are signs…" she muttered.

I quickly tried to get next to her, looking where she was. We could both see very clearly in the dark, even from high up. I wanted to help her look for whatever she needed. "What are you looking for?"

"There's nothing… No Faunus. Nothing. No one is out." Brooke mumbled.

"Is that good or bad?" I asked.

"I don't know. My plan was to watch where people went, but no one is out. I… have one other idea. But it's dangerous." Brooke looked over her shoulder at the other three girls.

"Do whatever you need to. We don't have many options here," Ruby said with a nod.

Brooke gestured for me to step back with the others, which I did. She tore off her coat and her hat. "Always hated the damn things. I don't need them anymore," Brooke muttered as she shoved them to the roof of the building.

Brooke turned to face the moon, letting out a deep breath.

"Instinctual," she muttered. "It's instinctual. She'll respond."

I was unsure of what Brooke was going on about. Perhaps she was trying to reassure herself that whatever she was about to do was going to work. She took a strong stance, allowing herself to remain wide and low to the ground, almost in a battle stance.

In the glow of the moonlight, Brooke closed her eyes and took one more deep breath. Arching her back so that her head was aimed nearly parallel to the ground, her ears unfolded as they fell backwards over her head. Brooke's arms flew behind her and her tail stood up in the sharpest manner I had ever seen as she let out the longest, deepest, most powerful howl I had ever heard in my entire life. It was so powerful and drawn out, I could have sworn it had come from an actual wolf, not a wolf Faunus.

Brooke finished her howl and returned to her normal stance. The only thing was, her ears did not fold back over. They stood, pointed, and sharp, like an adult wolf. This was a symbol, for the wolf Faunus. I had not known many in my life, but it was common knowledge amongst most Faunus that a wolf had folded ears until they reached an adult level of maturity. It had somewhat shocked me that she had come here with folded ears, considering all that she had been through. It appeared that now, right this moment, her body decided that she was an adult, ready to defend her pack.

Brooke's hand reached up, quickly feeling the difference in her ears, but the attention was quickly diverted to a returning howl, just a few blocks to the east of our building. The howl was higher pitched, from a younger wolf Faunus, the only other wolf Faunus in Vale. Brooke had been right, it was instinctual. Silvia knew Brooke's howl, she had grown up with it. It was instinctual for a wolf Faunus to return the howl call of its pack members.

"That's her," Brooke assured with a powerful nod. Her tail swished behind her as her newly pointed ears shone in the moonlight. "That's where they are."

The four of us darted to the fire escape, darting down as fast as we could. Brooke jumped down from platform to platform, but the rest of us simply ran down. Brooke waited for us at the bottom, ready for the sound of all five of our feet hitting the ground before darting off in the direction of the returning howl.

No one seemed to care that the streets were still empty. No one seemed to care that this almost seemed too easy. We just wanted to get to the target. I just wanted to kill Adam. Brooke just wanted to kill Alicia and save her sister. We all wanted this over and done with.

We stumbled upon a huge warehouse, the source of the return howl. There was an open window near the side where we had come from, and so we quickly climbed up the short wall and in through the window.

When we landed on the ground again within the warehouse, we were greeted by the most unexpected sight.

The main room of the warehouse was almost entirely empty. I had almost expected a massive audience due to the lack of people on the streets, but no one was around, except for three people stood in the middle of the room.

The first was a tall man, with bright red hair and a white mask. A devious smile crossed his face. He held a katana in his hand, still sheathed in its cover. My stomach was knotting, both fury and terror filling me. Adam Taurus, the man who I hated most on this planet.

The second person was a girl, barely an adult, with the same long, bright red hair that Adam had. The girl's hair was somewhat curly, and had several jet-black streaks racing through the hair. Two bright orange fox ears emerged from the top of her head, topped with small black fur caps. She did not wear the same mask as Adam, but her facial features assured me that she was who I thought she was. Alicia Taurus, the psychopathic little cousin.

Alicia stood next to Adam, holding a short sword with a second in a holder on her waist, and a sneering smile crossing her face as I focused on the last of the three people in the room.

The third person was held in a choke-hold by Alicia, with one of the short swords held up against her throat while Alicia's other hand pulled back her hair. The girl had long, silver hair, and two grey folded wolf ears and a thick, bushy tail that was tightly twisted between her legs. She was shaking, terrified of everything going on around her. The girl locked her eyes on Brooke, eyes with the same deep brown eyes that Brooke had. Silvia Timber.

"It was nice of you all to join us. We've been expecting you for some time now, Brooke. But I must say, a visit from dear old Blakey is a pleasant surprise." Adam's voice sneered through the air. I saw Yang's fists clench out of the corner of my eye.

"Speaking of surprises," Alicia jeered in the same disgusting tone, "we've got quite a nice one set up for you, Brooke!"

With a single, swift motion, Alicia jerked her sword back towards her, there was a horrifying sound, followed by an equally horrifying scream from Brooke.

Silvia's body crumpled to the floor, blood pooling almost immediately.

Alicia held up Silvia's head by her hair as blood dripped down onto the floor, a terrifying sly smile forming over the face of the fox Faunus.

"Surprise!"

* * *

 **Brooke POV**

I stared at Alicia, still in shock. She held the head of my little sister.

 _Silvia._

My head was blurry.

Alicia had killed Silvia. She'd decapitated her right in front of me.

 _Kill Alicia._

My vision was fuzzy. I felt my axe expanding in my hand. I didn't feel myself activate it, but it was going.

 _Silvia. Kill. Alicia. Silvia. Kill. Alicia. Silvia. Silvia. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. ALICIA!_

My mind filled with fury as I charged forward. Alicia smirked at me once again, dropping the head on the ground and leaping out of the way.

I turned my body midair, slowing down time. She rose her two short swords, one still covered in my sister's blood. I twisted my grip on my axe, narrowly avoiding the body on the ground and completing a roll to the side. Time resumed normally.

I heard another sword unsheathe, but I could only focus on Alicia.

"No! She's mine!" Alicia screamed out, but to who, I did not know. I did not think. I just wanted to kill.

I leaped forwards once again, my axe swinging broadly over my head, as time slowed down yet again.

Alicia was ready to fight this time. Her two swords were pointed at me as she too leaped up into the air, attempting to stop me midair.

Pulling my axe downwards, her two blades smashed into the two blades of my axe. A loud _clang_ echoed throughout the room.

 _Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!_

I resumed time normally, pushing forwards on my axe with a massive force. Alicia fell backwards, her two swords skidding out of her hands and across the floor.

I slammed my axe into the ground, base first, as she landed, sending a massive shockwave throughout the warehouse. The building was shaking around me, but I did not care for more than a single moment.

 _KILL!_

Alicia lay on the ground, stunned from the tremors that had shook the building, defenseless, as I leaped into the air once more, spinning my axe around as time slowed down.

She made no moves to react, as she had no time to do so. Her arms were behind her, trying to hold her well enough to sit up on the ground. Her legs were laid out in front of her, and she had no chance to get her weapons back. Her only reaction was a small, very sly smile, forming across her face.

I slammed my axe down into her neck at a slight angle. Her head came clean off, far cleaner than Silvia's had. She deserved worse. My sister was dea-.

The worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life shot through my lower back. I looked down for merely a moment, to see the end of a katana sticking through my stomach.

Everything fell into darkness.


	9. Chapter 9: Epilogue

Chapter 9

Epilogue

 _Twenty Years Later_

 **Blake POV**

I was standing backstage, hidden by a curtain, waiting anxiously for my name to be called.

Yang stood next to me, a smile on her face. She was intently watching the speaker on the stage as she began her introduction into the keynote speaker.

Yang noticed I was staring at her, and then a puzzled look formed on her face as she noticed the anxious look on mine. "What's wrong, love?"

"I'm just really nervous about this speech. I don't know why. I've given a thousand different speeches before." I took Yang's outstretched hand in mine. Our wedding bands clicked together very gently.

"I think you're nervous because it's about her, ya know?" Yang said softly, rubbing her thumb over my hand.

I nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"You're gonna rock it out there, honey. I believe in you. And I know she believes in you too," Yang gave me a gentle kiss on my forehead.

My attention turned to the speaker who was finishing her introduction.

"Without further ado, Mrs. Blake Belladonna-Xiao Long!"

I stepped out onto the stage. It was not very large, just a small stage in a park. But the crowd was large, every space filled with people and Faunus of all sorts.

I smiled at the crowd and began my speech.

"New Vale has come a very long way in the last twenty years. Many people know that we've achieved a great victory in reclaiming and rebuilding the town as a safe place for everyone to live in peace, but not very many people know all of the stories of those who got it to where it is today."

"We live in an incredible time of peace. It almost seems like a miracle, having lived in the city we refer to as Old Vale. On that fateful night, twenty years ago, the mafia that ran the town, the White Fang, was overthrown. Immediately after it happened, almost everyone knew the details. But now, many of the details have been lost."

"The fall of the White Fang began with a single person. A young woman by the name of Brooke Timber. Brooke stumbled into my life, literally, while I was on a date one night with my now-wife, Yang Belladonna-Xiao Long. Things were very different back then. Only one district of Old Vale was considered safe to live in. My wife, her younger sister, Ruby Rose, and her wife, Weiss Rose as well as myself, used to patrol the district, stopping petty crime, and keeping it as safe as things could be in Old Vale. Yet we never left the district. We never dreamed about something as big and great as the fall of the White Fang."

"I, once, a very long time ago, was a member of the White Fang, before it entered the violent phase it is most infamously well known for today. When things got too violent, I left as soon as I could, becoming the only person to ever escape the White Fang. I was taken in by the three girls I came to call my family, and not just by marriage. Despite our relationships, we all had a very sisterly bond with each other. It remained the four of us until the night of that fateful date, in which we met a hungry, scared, and nearly dead Brooke Timber."

"We took Brooke in, unsure of whether or not she was someone we could trust. She was asleep for a long time, but she eventually woke up. She trusted us as little as we trusted her, and it took quite some time to get some basic answers about her and her past and why she was in Old Vale, of all places. Brooke Timber was a wolf Faunus, not native to the lands of Vale. Each party believed the other was working with the Fang, but eventually, we learned of her story."

"Brooke's younger sister, the young Silvia Timber, had been kidnapped by a family member of the leader of the White Fang, Alicia Taurus, cousin to the former leader, Adam Taurus. Brooke left her homeland of Mistral to come to the cursed land of Vale on a quest to find and attempt to save her sister, no matter what the cost. For as long as I knew her, she always put her sister on her mind before anything else."

"We agreed to help Brooke, and eventually, after a few short weeks, we found ourselves on the streets of Old Vale, tracking down Silvia Timber. We found her here, in the warehouse that once inhabited this plot of land."

"That night, Alicia Taurus murdered young Silvia, and Brooke retaliated by killing Alicia. As Adam Taurus watched his cousin die, he lashed out against Brooke in anger, and murdered her in response. Furthering the chain of deaths that night, myself and my family killed Adam Taurus. For a few moments, we had hope that Brooke would survive the attack, but it did not last long. Brooke had been killed instantly, our friend, gone in the blink of an eye, in a horrifying chain of attacks."

"Following the death of Adam, we were soon surrounded by high ranking officials of the White Fang. The four of us truly believed it would be the end for all of us, finishing the chain of death that had occurred that night. But instead of killing us, they thanked us. They thanked us for killing the monster of a man that had become Adam Taurus."

"Those with high power within the White Fang expressed to us that things had gotten extremely out of hand with Adam in power. They recognized that there was no such thing as equality in Old Vale. There was nothing but fear, crime, and horrible living conditions, for both humans and Faunus alike. They recognized me, even though at the time I covered my now-iconic cat ears with a black bow to hide who I was from the world I lived in."

"The high-ranking members of the White Fang asked me to step up in the power void left by Adam Taurus and to rebuild the White Fang as not a crime organization, but as an actual political front that _peacefully_ fought for equality between Faunus and humans in Vale."

"That request is probably the most shocking thing I will ever hear in my life. I was extremely distraught, as I had just witnessed the death of four different people, one of which was my very close friend. But in that moment, I remembered back to something Brooke said that I will never forget, as long as I live."

"A few nights before the fall of the White Fang, Brooke had said to us, _'There's no one out there gearing up to change things. The government is corrupt, the police are corrupt, the Fang runs everything, and nothing is going to change. People die, every single goddamn day. People are murdered and robbed and raped and there is no safety patrol at night. Hell, if some of the people I saw out there came inside these blocks, they'd tear you girls to shreds. This isn't just survival, this is war. And if you don't take the offensive stance first, you eventually aren't going to have anything left to protect.'_ Those words shook me in that moment, hearing her voice come back to me. If I didn't take the position, if I didn't take charge and change the White Fang for the better, things would never change in Vale. I had to take the offensive stance and protect my family and my people."

"So, as you all know, I did. I took the role as leader of the White Fang, and rebranded the organization under the name of Faunus for Equality. The FFE was reorganized and turned from a mafia-style organization to a form of real equality and justice for the Faunus of Vale."

"One of the first steps that the FFE took to reorganize was to clear out the 'Fang Prison Camps' that existed in secret all over the city, unknown to me. These prison camps had horrible conditions, and those who were liberated were beyond grateful for the change in leadership and organization. To our surprise, two of the inmates in one of these 'Fang Prison Camps' were actually my father-in-law, Taiyang Xiao Long, and his brother-in-law, Qrow Branwen. The two men were considered to be dead for many years, and it was a blessing to our family for their safe return. The return of our family members showed the four of us that although the process to rebuild Vale had been a horrific one, there was hope for the future. There was hope that, one day, we would live in a world completely free of these atrocities."

"In a few short years, the FFE was able to help new leaders get elected to our government. Our current mayor, Mayor Ozpin, was our first choice as a leader for the whole city, and that was a position he swiftly achieved and has maintained ever since. The city was rebuilt, slowly but surely, and renamed to New Vale. Eventually, Ruby Rose and Weiss Rose were appointed members of the city council, where they still reside today as some of the best lawmakers this city has ever seen. My wife, Yang Belladonna-Xiao Long, worked for a position as an educator within the New Vale Police Force to educate against prejudices and misconceptions about the Faunus and the FFE. Between the three of them, they have infinitely helped the FFE and the citizens of New Vale get along and understand that this is not just another White Fang, but something very different."

"Mayor Ozpin took it upon himself to establish a precedent of the mayor of New Vale working closely with the leader of the FFE to assure that discrimination was fought on three fronts: Education, laws, and economic opportunities. Since the election of Mayor Ozpin, the Faunus population in New Vale has seen true equality and a government that truly does represent them and work for them as well as the human population in Vale. To many of our children, the concept of the inequalities faced by many Faunus is simply impossible."

"Since my appointment as the leader of the FFE, I have made many speeches. This one, however, I consider to be the most important speech of my career. This speech today is for the commemoration of Timber Park, built upon the land in which the famous warehouse once stood."

"Not only has this been the most important speech of my career, but it has also felt like the hardest. This park was built in memory of Brooke and Silvia Timber, two sisters who always looked out for each other, even in their last moments."

I felt myself choking up for a moment, but I forced myself to get it out.

"Although my friendship with Brooke was brief, she will always hold a special place in my heart. She gave me the courage to chase the dream of fixing Old Vale, and sacrificed herself for the well-being of so many generations to come. Brooke was an amazing friend, and I will never forget everything that she taught me about not only myself, but the wonderful world that we all live in."

"In the middle of Timber Park are two brand new oak trees. These trees have been planted in honor of Brooke and Silvia, to grow in their memories. One day, our great-great-grandchildren will play in this park, and they may have no idea who these girls were, or how big their sacrifice was. We hope that these trees, along with plaques that briefly describe how important these two girls were, will help preserve the memories of the sisters and help them live on well after they themselves have passed away."

I looked down at the crowd. In the front row was a wolf Faunus, one of the older Timber brothers. He stood there with his wife and his three children, tears in his eyes. I had sent out a request to the Timbers to come to New Vale for the dedication of this park. We had contacted the Timber family a few times before, one of the times being to send the video Brooke had recorded before her death for them. As the years went on, they seemed to want less and less to do with the past of the Timber sisters. Their older brother that was closest in age had been the only one to respond. The closest emotionally to Brooke and Silvia, besides each other, as he had described it. Seeing his eyes watering made mine do the same, so I stopped for a moment to take a deep breath.

"There… there is nothing I would rather do than spend just one more day with my friend. I wish I could see Brooke just one last time. I wish things had gone differently that day, and we could have stopped Adam before… Unfortunately, we cannot change the past. We can only honor their memories and look towards the future."

"Thank you very much."

* * *

 _A scroll screen flickers to life. A video begins to play._

 _Brooke Timber appears on the screen. She is staring very seriously into the camera for a moment, before she looks down, and then back up, into the camera._

 _"_ _If you're watching this, then things have gone bad. I told you I was recording a video for my family, so I recorded two. One video for my family in Mistral, another video for my family in Vale. I wanted to give you each a specific message, and then a general message for all of you."_

 _"_ _Ruby, never stop being you, please. You care so much about everyone and you're so sweet and kind to everyone you meet. I wish I could help you keep your childlike innocence forever, but I certainly know that if you're watching this video, it's probably gone. Just because you don't have that any more doesn't mean that you can't be genuinely you, you kind, caring, wonderful person. Seek happiness wherever you can find it, Ruby. You deserve it."_

 _"_ _Weiss, don't let your old family hold you back. These girls care about you so much. They love you so much. This is your family now. No matter what happens tonight, don't ever let your family have the satisfaction of getting you back in their lives. Change your name, stay with those who truly care about you. You are not Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Jewelry Company anymore. You are Weiss, a beautiful, kind, caring, compassionate, young woman who is going to do many great things with her life. You don't need them or their approval for that. Don't ever stop being you."_

 _"_ _Blake…" Tears began to form in Brooke's eyes. "You are amazing, strong, and one of the most courageous people I have ever had the luxury of meeting. You are going to do legendary things, I know you are. You're a natural born leader, and I know you're capable of changing the world. You have so much passion for what you believe in. Don't ever stop fighting for what's right, Blake. Change Vale for me. Make it a better place, for me, for the future, for yourself."_

 _"_ _Yang…" Brooke's face was streaming with tears now. "Thank you. For everything. For believing in me when no one else did. For always making me smile and laugh, even when I felt like that was never going to be possible again. You are the light in a very dark world, and you bring joy to all of those around you. You care for your family so much, but please, don't forget to care for yourself. You shine bright, but don't let yourself burn out. You are amazing."_

 _"_ _To all of you… I love you all, very much. I will never stop loving you, no matter what happens. You took me in, treated me just like another sister. I will never be able to repay the hospitality and help that you have given me. You are all such amazing, amazing people. You will never stop being great. You are all going to do amazingly great things. I know that things are hard right now, especially given everything that has happened. But you have to understand something, a life motto that I have always lived by."_

 _"_ _No matter what, even in the darkest of times, you must always remember one thing."_

 _"_ _Keep moving forward."_

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Wow, so that's it. It's done! My first fully published fan fiction!

Thank you to everyone who has read, favorited, and followed this piece! It really means a lot, considering I was really unsure of whether or not to even begin publishing in the first place. I'm so glad so many of you have read it, because it's definitely inspired me to write more!

I've got a couple of ideas in mind for the next couple of fics I would like to write, but I unfortunately have to take a week or two off, as I have finals coming up very soon! But there will be more in the future, I promise!

If you have any feedback on my piece, feel free to leave a review! Any and all feedback is heavily appreciated! I know it's not the best work in the world, but I'd like to think it's fairly good after not writing much creatively like this for five years, and my first published fic ever!

Thank you all so much! I love you all!


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